Kaguya's Heir
by Milkitia
Summary: Ignored by his parents in the moments where he needs them the most because of his little brother and sister, he seeks comfort elsewhere. However, life seems to hate him because death is constantly in his path. Older, Very Strong, Akatsuki Naruto. NarutoxOC
1. Pain

**Sorry for the long time no updating but I barely have any time to write because of a lot of things happening. Anyways, new story, enjoy.**

**Rated M because of violence.**

* * *

**Prologue**

Sitting on top of the Hokage monument, the third Hokage's head precisely, is a short spiky red haired child. He was born with the bluest eyes that anyone had ever seen but over the years, they had progressively clouded. The child was only ten years old but he already had the reasoning of a kage. To say that this child was merely a child would be a grave mistake. He was ten years old and he was already a chuunin. He and his team, whom the famous prodigy Itachi Uchiha was part of, had just came back from the chuunin exam in Suna. He and Itachi had gotten to the final and their fight ended in a tie.

This child is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, son of Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze. Both known to be some very powerful figures. One being an expert in kenjutsu that very few could rival with, and the other being the fourth Hokage.

Many would dream to be the son of such powerful figures, but not him. You could say that he even hated to be their son. He was always in the shadow of his parents, mostly his father. People didn't call him Naruto, no; they called him the 'son of the Hokage' or 'the older brother of the twins'. Whatever he did, it was always expected because he was 'the son of the hokage'. It was normal thing you could say and he hated that. Each day he pushed himself to his limits so that he could get out of his father's shadow. Yet, each day that passed seem to show him that it is fruitless. People still see him as the Hokage's son. Because of his extreme training, he was known as a genius on par with Itachi.

He and Itachi had always been best friend ever since they could remember. They literally passed their childhood together. When they were four years old, they have seen the horrors of the Third Shinobi War. They had stumbled by accident on a battle where many shinobis had died. This event traumatised both of them and turned them into pacifists. Their parents later learned of that and they subsequently helped them to overcome that. That event led to them losing their innocence. It was like a curtain had been lifted so that they could see the real world. Not the innocent one they were led to believe where everything went smoothly.

A year later, Itachi, Naruto, Shisui and Rito, two boys they just got to know, went hunting for some medicinal herbs in the woods of Konoha on a dark night. Shisui was a friend of Itachi and Rito was a friend of Shisui. Naruto and Rito hit it off very quickly. They had much more in common than Itachi and him and or him and Shisui. What stunned Naruto though was that the two boys didn't care that he was the son of the Hokage. They wanted to know the real him. The one that very few people saw.

Everything got smoothly and they had gotten quite a lot of medicinal herbs. It was only later on that Itachi and Shisui decided to head back home early claiming that they were tired. Understanding their reason, Naruto continued to pick medicinal herbs for an hour or two before everything went to hell…

* * *

_**Flashback**_

_Naruto was crouching over a small orange-yellow flower. That flower had been hard to find but he had done it. That flower was a lot in demand considering its high capacity to heal severe burns. To think he had found it so near of Konoha, normally she was often growing up near the border separating the Land of the Fire from the Land of Hot Water. Itachi and Shisui had leaved an hour or so ago so he was alone in the woods. Taking a small-sized scroll from his left pocket, he gently picked the flower and placed it on the scroll. Putting two of his fingers on the markings, he added a small bit of chakra and watched as the flower disappeared into the scroll with a small puff of smoke. Nodding to himself in satisfaction, he decided it was enough for today and time to go home. _

_Just as he was turning around to head back, a giant puff of smoke appeared out of nowhere thirty meters or so away from him. He swiftly turned his head to check what it was and what he saw made his blood run cold. _

_The famous Kyuubi that he had seen in some books was right in front of him._

_The Kyuubi immediately releashed a very powerful roar that tore the landscape around him. The result of it threw Naruto very far and high in the air. His hearing had become dull from the sound of it and his vision wasn't faring better. As he was in the air, he briefly wondered if he was dreaming. After what seemed an eternity, Naruto crashed through a building. _

_A few seconds later when he regained his bearings, he forced himself to concentrate harder because he could feel he was stunned. His whole body was lightly shaking in shock from what had happened. That and it was in immense pain from the crashing he had sustained. After taking some heavy breaths to calm himself, he started thinking more clearly. How did he not gone deaf? The roar was much louder than anything he had ever heard. That and now that he could think clearly, his ears had supposedly sustained no real damage. How could it be?_

_Looking at the hole he made as he was crashing, he could see hordes of shinobis fighting against the Kyuubi. Why were they fighting a natural disaster? Or was it a mindless beast? Why were the people trying to fight something when they knew they didn't have a chance to beat it? Were they truly protecting the village by sacrificing their lives like that when they knew they had no chance to beat it? Questions upon questions were asked in his head as he continued to look at the battle far away._

"_Uh?" Naruto said in surprised when he saw multiples small things heading toward him. The more it neared him, the more he had flashbacks from that dire night he had seen the massacre along with Itachi. When he saw what it was, his blood ran cold again. He truly hoped it wasn't what he thought it was._

_He raised his arms in front of him to protect himself from the impact. A moment later, something impacted with his stomach and cut his breath. Bending over with his hands on the ground, he took a moment to regain his breath. Raising his head to see what it was that impacted with him, he started to shake like a leaf._

_It was as if fate wanted him to suffer. A dismembered scorched head dripping with blood was staring at him with soulless eyes. As if it wasn't enough, the limbs of the man were scattered around the dark room he was in. Blood was also covering a good part of the room. Instead of seeing the massacre from far like he had done a year ago, he was right in it._

_He could feel the tears starting to build up in his eyes. His heart was starting to beat faster and adrenaline was taking over. His mind could not take more of it. His body shut down and he fell unconscious from the shock._

_**End Flashback**_

* * *

He had later been found by a ninja who brought him to the hospital. Tsunade had personally healed him the best she could but she could only do so much. It wasn't his body that been hurt, it was his mind. As such, he woke up seven days after the Kyuubi incident from a coma. His mind had been more damaged than they had thought apparently. When he had woken up, he heard that word of what had happened to him had spread. As such, people gave him lot of gifts. Not because of what had happened to 'him' but because he was 'the son of the Hokage'. His family along along with Itachi and Shisui's families had also visited him but he hadn't talked in five days. That got many worried but they could understand seeing the situation he had lived.

What had pissed him the most was his parents. They had only visited him twice, the first one to see how he was going and the second time to show him his newborn brother and sister. Their names were Natsumi and Menma. The girl, Natsumi, had smooth red hair like him and Menma had inherited the spiky blonde hair from his father. That was also when they had informed him that a masked man had stolen the Kyuubi from Kushina and he had unleashed it on Konoha. Very few knew that information though. His father had been able to beat him but he got away in the end. He later sealed the Yin part of the Kyuubi in Natsumi and the Yang part in Menma. The result of this is that the twins were hailed as heroes.

Back to his parents, he was still a child at that moment so he needed the help of a parental figure. Yet, he barely received any comfort from them. They had only visited him twice to see how he was going. TWICE! Itachi and Shisui's families had visited him at least once a day! Rito would visit him at least three times a day. Even if he didn't talk, he would at least listen to them and occasionally give brief nods.

When he was deemed stable enough and finally released from the hospital, he had asked them why they had only visited him twice. Maybe they were busy in their work or something like that he had thought. He could understand. No, the answer he had gotten was that they were too busy with the twins and the reconstruction of Konoha. Why hadn't they sent a clone then? They didn't have the time to do one, they had said. It was complete bullshit and he knew it. He was still willing to give them a chance though, they were his parents after all and he hoped they would come to understand the mistake they had made.

A day after he had gotten out of the hospital, something else had happened. As if the Kyuubi incident wasn't enough…

* * *

_**Flashback**_

_Sitting on the ground near a pond in the Namikaze-Uzumaki compound was Naruto. He was looking at his own reflection in the water. The only difference being that instead of blue eyes, they were red with one tomoe in each of them. He knew what it was of course, it was the sharingan. What was unsettling though was how did he have it? As far as he knew, only the Uchihas had it, not the Uzumakis or the Namikazes. Maybe one of his ancestors had it and he awakened his through him? As for how then he guessed he awakened it the night of the Kyuubi incident. It was the only explanation._

"_Oh oh oh, to think that the bastard's son has the sharingan. Truly interesting but unfortunately I have to kill you." An eerie voice said behind him startling him. Turning around, he saw a tall and thin man. He had short black hair and his eyes were brown. He was wearing the standard Iwagakure flak jacket and he had a normal katana strapped on his back._

"_Why do you want to kill me?" Naruto responded when he had gotten his nerves under control. He knew that his father had killed a lot of Iwa shinobis in the last shinobi war but why would that man want to kill him?_

"_Why? Are you serious?!" The Iwa shinobi asked him before his face turned in a sneer. "Your father killed my friends along with my father."_

"_So by killing me you hope to make my father suffer from my death just like he made you suffer when he killed you father and friends?" Naruto asked with a curious expression._

"_Well well well, look at that." He said with a crooked grin. "You are definitively not stupid like the kids of your age. Yes, by killing you your father will be depressed and that way I will have my revenge."_

"_I see…" Naruto said with a frown. "Because you know that you can't win against my father, you came here to kill me. That's a coward move to do that no?"_

"_Coward move?" He said and started to laugh a bit. "It may be indeed, but we are shinobis. Shinobis are warriors that will use anything to achieve their goal. Do you want to survive in the shinobi world? If so, then use anything you can to survive or you will not make it. Such petty things such as honor or rules don't exist in the shinobi world. Only those who survive by any means will continue to live in the end. By killing you I make sure to not have a second Yellow Flash, I take my revenge against your father and we may never see your father again on the battlefield because he will be wrecked. If he could suicide himself then it would be all the better and it will hit the moral of Konoha's shinobis."_

"_The shinobis… are cursed then?" Naruto said. If what the Iwa shinobi had said was true then it all made sense. Ever since he had woken up from his coma, he started to feel a change in him. He was starting to question his peace's ideals. Will the violence ever come to an end? Can it even be stopped? If so, what will happen after peace?_

"_In a way you could say. Anyways, pleasantries aside, I have to kill you and get the hell out of here really fast. I already spent too much time here." He said and Naruto's eyes widened when he saw the man taking out his katana. "I am deeply sorry kid, I have nothing against you but you were just born at the wrong place and at the wrong moment. It is your father that I have something against, not you."_

_With that, the Iwa shinobi brought the katana and swung it at him to behead him in a clean cut. For Naruto, it was as if the world had slowed down. He could see the katana slowly coming toward him. Was he going to die? Was it because of that that there were so many conflicts in the world? Why was he worried to continue living if suffering is most likely at the end of the road? Why does humanity fight against each other when happiness is in reach for them if they do not fight? Is peace… even possible through such pacifist ideals?_

_That and the man's words echoed through his mind. They seemed… so true. It was like the man perfectly knew what he was talking about. Like he had learned those words the hard way. He may be his enemy but Naruto couldn't help but respect that man._

_Looking at the incoming katana, Naruto made a decision. No… a promise. He was not going to die before he had somehow found a way to achieve peace. Be it by force or through pacifist means, it remains to be seen._

_As the katana continued to make his way toward him, Naruto felt a power he had never felt before coursing through his veins. He was not going to die; it was either to be killed or to kill. He simply refused to die before achieving his dream!_

_The katana passed through Naruto's neck._

"_What?!" The Iwa shinobi said in shock as his katana hit nothing. Where did the kid go?! One moment he was right in front of him and the next, he disappeared! He was an experienced jounin, he even joined ANBU for a few years, so his eyes were trained to follow such speed. It was like he had teleported or simply disappeared. However, he saw no signs of flash like his father or something remotely close to that. The next thing he felt was an immense pain on his head before everything went black. _

_As for Naruto, he was in the same position a few feet away from where he had previously been. Just… what had happened? One moment he was there and the next he was here. Before he could dwell more on that, he fell unconscious._

_Silence greeted the Uzumaki-Namikaze compound again and a few moments later five ANBU along with their Hokage appeared inside of it. By the look of it, Minato was rather alarmed by what had happened. Moments before he was doing paperwork in the Hokage Tower when he noticed one of the seals he had on himself glowing. Looking at it, he saw that it was the one that informed him of a foreign chakra presence in his home. Knowing that his son was at home, he thought of the worst. _

"_What happened here?" A masked dog ANBU said in a surprised voice. The other ANBU and their Hokage couldn't help but agree with him._

_It seems that they would have to wait for Naruto to wake up to know what had happened because they basically had nothing to know what had happened. All there was is a big puddle of blood with Naruto unconscious a few feet away from it. Maybe someone tried to assassinate him? But even then, how could the attacker died? All they had was a big puddle of blood; there were no organs, limbs or even the smallest bit of flesh. Only a puddle of blood._

_**Naruto's mindscape**_

"_Where am I?" Naruto immediately asked as he was lying on the ground in a grass field. The grass was long enough to at least tickle his cheeks. Lifting himself with his elbows, he took a look around him. The grass was spreading for as far as he could see. He could see some mountains far away on his right and on his left was a forest. Before he could continue to sightseeing, he was interrupted._

"_Hello." A silky yet strict feminine voice said from behind him. Turning around, he saw that the owner of the voice was a female. She was a long white haired woman with two horns sticking from her head. Her eyebrows were cut very short and her lips and nails were painted in a crimson red colour. She was wearing a traditional white high-collared kimono adorned of intricate lines and tomoes running down the centre and edges of the gown._

"_Hum… where am I and who are you?" Naruto inquired with a light frown._

"_My name is Kaguya Otsutsuki and you are in your mindscape because I brought you here."_

"_Why would you have brought me here? Are you part of my soul that gained life or something like that?" He said and she chuckled when she heard the last part._

"_No, I am not a part of your soul or something like that. I am a different entity from you, I am not even human, but you are one of my descendants and that is why I am here. Like my son, I have a sort of chakra that allows me to see and send my chakra through my descendants. That way, I can sort of time-travel you could say and-"_

"_What?! You come from the past?! How is it possible?! Just who the hell are you?!" Naruto said sweating from the new information._

"_Don't interrupt me; I do not have time for this." Kaguya said with a frown and Naruto quickly nodded seeing the menacing aura she had. Who was she, he had no idea but her aura was certainly powerful, vastly superior to his father. "As I said, a special ability of my chakra is that I can see through the future generations of my descendants but I will later tell you why I am doing that. I do not have an infinite amount of chakra and the farther I go in my descendance, the more chakra I am consuming. You only need to know that I am here to help you."_

"_Why me then? Why did you choose to help me precisely? Why not my parents or grandparents?" Naruto couldn't help but ask._

"_Because even if you are five years old, you have the mind of a full grown adult. You see the world like it truly is and right now, you are also a bit like I was. Something I have rarely seen. The way you will choose to live your life will also depend whether or not I will continue to help you." Kaguya said in a delicate tone that showed a bit of her sadness._

"_What do you mean I am also a bit like you?" Naruto asked in curiosity._

"_Do you see the stormy clouds behind me?" She said turning around to look at the storm far away from them. _

"_Yes, do they mean something?" Naruto said when he was beside her. They both had their eyes fixed on it with an intense curiosity in their stares._

"_This is your mindscape. The light from the sun show your dream of achieving peace through diplomatic ways. The stormy clouds though, show your hate toward the world."_

"_My hate toward the world?" Naruto wondered aloud._

"_You may not realise it now but you very recently started to doubt of your dream of achieving peace through diplomatic ways. That and what intrigue me is that a very small part of you is starting to resent humanity for what it is."_

"_My mindscape reflects what I think then?" He said and she nodded at his question. Narrowing his eyes, he continued. "There must be a mistake then because I don't hate humanity. I wish to achieve peace through diplomatic means and for that to happen, I need the cooperation of everyone."_

"_The heart and the mind often do not think the same thing. Many have been fooled by thinking that they were right, but their heart showed them otherwise." Kaguya said with a small smile as if she was reminiscing something._

"_I won't fall to darkness." Naruto said in defiance with piercing eyes that a five years old child should not have._

"_You cannot predict the future therefore you know nothing." She said before she heard him scoff in disbelief. She closed her eyes for a moment and let out a small sigh. He had a strong determination she had to admit. "Nevertheless, my time will be up soon so I have to finish fast. I want to talk about the Namikaze Clan."_

"_Why them? They have nothing special other than being a clan of merchants who came to Konoha to establish themselves during the Second Hokage's reign." Naruto asked with his arms crossed over his chest._

"_You are wrong." Kaguya bluntly said and Naruto raised an eyebrow at what she said. How could he be wrong when his own father, one of its members, told him of that? "The Namikaze Clan is like the Uzumaki clan. Where the Uzumaki were part of the Senju clan once, the Namikaze was once a part of the Uchiha clan."_

"_What!?" Naruto said with his mouth opened in surprise. "If they were a part of the Uchiha clan, then why did they leave it?"_

"_They were not interested in fighting the Senjus. They wanted to live their own life by selling their things. They wanted to live the life of a merchant, not one of a shinobi. Knowing this, the Uchihas were not happy and they banned them from ever entering their lands. They erased all traces of their connection to the Namikazes in anger of their betrayal. As a result of that, very_ _few people actually know of this. Even then, the grudge between them has greatly dwindled over the years. I doubt that even the current Uchiha clan head know that the Namikaze were once a part of their clan."_

"_So that's how I awaken the sharingan?" Naruto said as he looked at the ground. It all made sense now… Beside him, Kaguya was smilling at him; he was a very smart child even without the traumas he had suffered from. "If I have awakened it, then why does my father haven't awaken it?"_

"_To awaken the sharingan, you need to feel a powerful emotion to awake it and it must be done early in your life. Once you pass adulthood, it is near impossible to achieve it. However, because that the Namikazes have separated themselves from the Uchihas a long time ago, your Uchiha blood is more diluted. That makes it harder to awaken the sharingan among the Namikazes. You awakened yours on the night of the Kyuubi incident when you saw the corpse of the shinobi. That however, was not enough to awaken it considering how diluted the Uchiha blood is in you. Another event happened before that though. Can you guess?" Kaguya said and Naruto winced at the memory._

"_The massacre that Itachi and me saw a year ago?" Naruto asked looking very uncomfortable. _

"_Correct." Kaguya said with a smile. It was weird to speak with a child that had the mindset of an adult but it definitively made it easier. Even though he was lot more mature than the kids of his age, she couldn't help but be sad for him. "When you saw the massacre, you felt some powerful emotions. That was not enough to awaken it though. It was only on the night of the Kyuubi incident that you reached the 'level needed' to awake it."_

"_I see…" Naruto said looking at the ground. "So that's why Itachi awaken his sharingan on that night? His Uchiha blood was pure so it was a lot easier to awaken it."_

"_Exactly." Kaguya said before noticing that her body was starting to glow. "Seem like my time is over. We will meet again Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. When though, I do not know. In the meantime, I hope you will make a decision on whether you hate humanity or you love it because your mindscape is starting to feel the effects. It may be slow but you will have to choose at one point. To the next time we may meet."_

_With that, her body disappeared in a shower of white sparkles. Naruto stared at the spot she disappeared with a deep look of concentration on his face. Even though he denied hating humanity, he could still feel it deep down inside of him. It unsettled him._

* * *

This was the first time she made an appearance. Over the years, she came to visit him more and more. This was also on one of these visits that she revealed that the first time they had met; she had somehow hijacked his body for a second to save his life with one of her jutsus.

A few days after that incident, he and Rito became best friend. His relationship with him became even better than the one he had with Itachi. Rito had sort of replaced the missing relationship he and his parents had since the twins were born. He could never hope to repay him for all he had done to help him. Rito knew since the beginning that he had suffered from traumas that no child should have. First the massacre he and Itachi had seen, next the Kyuubi incident and finally, the assassination attempt from the Iwa shinobi. He could never hope repay the debt he has toward him. He helped him so much that it was an impossible task.

"What are you doing here alone, Naruto-kun?" An elderly voice asked. Turning around he was greeted by the sight of Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third Hokage. Ever since his father had taken up the mantle of Hokage, Sarutobi had retired from the shinobi life to live his last days peacefully. It seemed that today he had decided to wear normal civilian clothes. Just like every day.

"Looking at the sunset." Naruto responded and turned back to look at it.

Hiruzen joined him as they watched the sunset together in silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence though. It was one of those where you felt at peace. While they watched it together, Hiruzen couldn't help but think about Naruto. He was ten years old and he had already lived a bloody and sad life. The events that happened to him should have never happened. It was… so sad for a child like him to live such a life so young. He was not even ten years old and he already has the blood of dozens of people on his hands. The sad part in it though was that Naruto never wanted to kill them.

However, as the years passed, he noticed a clear but very subtle difference in the attitudes of him and Itachi. When they were young, they both were pacifists because of what they had seen. That event not only made them pacifists but they also lost their innocence at the mere age of four. If there was a thing that Hiruzen had learned in his long life, it is that children should never participate in wars. They die too young.

Over the years, Itachi stayed a pacifist and he did whatever he could to protect the peace that Konoha have. Naruto though was a bit hard to understand. Not even he with all of his years could hope to understand him. Naruto's life has been since the beginning tragedies followed by tragedies. If it wasn't enough, the support he had from his parents gradually lessened in the years after that the twins were born. They were too busy with the twins apparently. That made him angry and he often wondered if he had made the right choice to choose Minato as the Hokage. It was as if the title of Hokage had gone to his head.

The only support he had were Itachi, Shisui, Rito and him. One of the only moments he could see Naruto's smile was when he was around Rito. Even then, that smile lessened gradually over the years. After _that_ incident it became practically non-existent.

Naruto on the other hand had started to resent humanity. It had been small at first but he had immediately noticed it. He wasn't an experienced retired kage for nothing. Very few things could escape him and by looking at Naruto's stare, he could see it.

He barely tolerated the presence of his parents anymore. Not that he could blame him. Each time they talked about his parents, Naruto was still not willing to give them a second chance. They abandoned him, he said. Hiruzen had spoken to Minato and Kushina about their relationship with their son a few months ago and barely anything got out of it. They had admitted that they might not have taken care of him a lot because of the twins but now it was as if the roles had been inversed. Minato and Kushina had later agreed on Hiruzen's advice that they needed to spend more time with Naruto three months ago. The problem? It was too late in Naruto's opinion. They should have done that years ago.

His relationship with the twins was strange to say the least. Naruto wanted nothing to do with them. Yet, Hiruzen could see that deep in him, he wanted to stay or hug them but something was preventing him. The twins wanted to know him, but Naruto wanted nothing to do with them. Even though Naruto seemed to be indifferent to them, they never abandoned in getting to try to know him.

"It is beautiful, isn't it?" Hiruzen said with a small smile.

"Yes."

"So..." He said and took small breath. "Have you parents tried to get more in touch with you recently?"

"Yes. Plenty of times. It is becoming annoying." Naruto curtly said with a very small frown.

Seeing this, Hiruzen mentally sighed. Another thing that had changed with Naruto was his emotions. He barely showed any as the years went by. Itachi still showed some but it was becoming an uncommon thing.

"What do you think Kaede would have thought of that?" He said and Naruto cringed a bit. He looked at the ground with guilt and his eyes showed sadness.

"…She would have told me to at least forgive them because they are my parents." Naruto lowly said as if he was expecting that.

Hiruzen lightly nodded in agreement with him. Kaede was a young pink haired girl that Naruto had met a month or so ago at a festival in Tanzaku town. The two had immediately bonded and their relationship was comparable to the one that Naruto and Rito had. What had surprised everyone though was that Naruto literally seemed to return in childhood when he was near her. They even played hide and seek… something that the current Naruto would find utterly ridiculous.

"She is probably dead… just like _him._" Naruto said in a monotone voice and got up. "I'm going back home to sleep. I have a long day waiting for me tomorrow."

Not waiting for an answer, he shunshined way and all traces of him were gone while also leaving Hiruzen alone on top of the Hokage Monument. Heaving a deep sigh, he decided to leave.

'_Naruto… ever since he died a year ago, you became more and more secluded. The mere mention of his name and you want to kill the person who dared to utter his name. Kaede has been your ray of light in your world of darkness and I sincerely hope that you can find someone like her if she truly died.'_ Looking at the setting sun, he had a last thought before leaving. _'Minato, Kushina, because of you we may very well have a second Madara coming. I hope that he won't turn like him because if he does, it will be entirely of your fault and that is something we don't need.'_

* * *

**There is a very minor crossover with another manga if you can find it. That chapter was a depressed one I agree but I need to make a background for later on. The next chapters wont be like that one.**

**Please review and no flames please! If you flame me, it will be noted, and ignored.**


	2. How To Die

**One year later**

A pair of blue eyes opened and they reflect a void of sadness that few had seen. He had that same dream again, the one in which he was playing with Kaede. It was easily one of his best memories if not the best. He hoped that she was still alive even if deep down in him, he knew that she was most likely dead. She had been the one who stopped his descent in darkness. Temporary that is.

* * *

_**Flashback**_

_'So that is what Tanzaku town looks like uh?' Naruto thought as he gazed at the ongoing festival with his 'family'. His 'father' hadn't been able to come because he was the Hokage so Jiraiya had opted to come instead. He had done a mission or two near the town but he never actually entered it. He wasn't very impressed by it though. It was only a small town surrounded by a low wall. 'How arrogant the city is to think that just because they are near Konoha they won't get attacked.' He thought with a sneer. _

_''There is so many people!'' Natsumi couldn't help but shout out while Menma readily agreed with his twin by seeing so many people at the same place for the festival. Unfortunately, her shout attracted many people._

_''Is that Jiraiya of the sannin and the Red Death?''_

_''Kami! Its the children of the fourth Hokage!''_

_''They are cute, don't you think?''_

_''I'm going to check the surroundings.'' Naruto said but before he could get away, Jiraiya put a hand on his shoulder._

_''Hold on kid, can't you stay a bit longer with us?'' Jiraiya asked in concern. In the past months, Naruto had started to get more and more reclusive. Not that Jiraiya could blame him after what happened._

_''Why should I stay?'' Naruto replied as he briefly looked in the direction of his younger siblings. He held back a look of disgust when he saw his brother and sister waving and making poses at the crowd of people looking at them. _

_That was why he didn't want to be near them. He dislike the fact that they thought that just because they were the children of two powerful figures, they would also be powerful. It was a human trait that disgusted him at the highest point. If only they were less _human_... Don't get him wrong, he may hate humans but he perfectly know that he is one. Even if they continuously wage war against each other, they have some good qualities. They were just extremely rares. The last one that had such a quality was Hashirama Senju, the first Hokage._

_''Because it would do you some good to be with your family. Reconnect the bridges like they say.'' Jiraiya said in hopes that the young man in front of him would agree._

_''Jiraiya-san...'' Naruto said as he slowly turned his head to look at him. When he saw his face, Jiraiya held back a shiver. These eyes had an intelligence that a child of ten years old shouldn't have. What intrigued him though was the amount of hate in them. When he spoke, it was in an eerily tone. ''What kind of family do I have? Ever since the twins were born, they forgot about me to the point where I had to get my food myself. What kind of parent would let their five years old kid live by themselves? Sometimes when I would come back from a mission late at night, the compound was closed. I had to sleep at Itachi's house because of that. Now... can you tell me which good it will give me to be around my supposed family?''_

_''They know they messed up pretty badly with you but they want to try again. Can't you at least give them a chance?''_

_''Maybe one day... but not now.'' Naruto said and he disappeared afterward with a Shunshin to explore the city. Before going though, he had noticed his 'mother' looking at the ground in guilt. She must have heard what he said. Whatever, it wasn't concerning him, she completely deserved it after all._

_Jiraiya watched where he once stood for a moment before letting out a sigh. The kid just didn't want to forget his parents. Not that he could really blame him after what Minato and Kushina did. They did many mistakes toward him but he believed that they got the retribution of their actions by how long Naruto ignored or stayed away from them. Another problem is that Naruto is way too much independent for his age. He also had the sneaking suspicion that Naruto is an autodidact person, something that you don't often see in the shinobi world._

* * *

_'What kind of family do I truly have?' Naruto thought bitterly as he jumped from roof to roof to clear his thoughts from the recent discussion. 'The only family I have are Hiruzen, Itachi, Shisui and Kaguya. Minato and Kushina are nothing but my biological parents who utterly failed at raising me. Really, who would forget their kid to the point where said kid would have to go sleep at a friend's house?'_

_Once he was in a deserted area of the town, he decided to stop. Once he checked if the surroundings were safe, he sat on the ledge on a roof. The calm breeze brushing against his skin made him realise once more how lucky he was to still be alive. Even if the world he live in is tainted by an everlasting darkness, it doesn't mean that he doesn't enjoy it. Life is a gift that should not be underestimated. He was happy with living but even he had to admit that the shinobi world is born from the hate, anger and sadness that it provides. On another side, he had to admit that living is a hell for him. He would be a liar if he said that the traumatic experiences he suffered from in his childhood didn't affected him. These experiences had forged who he was today and when Rito had died, it had only gotten worse. He trained himself to the bone till he reach exhaustion each day because of that. These moments and the conversations he had with Itachi and Shisui were the few moments of happiness left that he could enjoy. Humans are a strange kind, even when there is a tiny amount of hope in their hearts, they are still willing to continue to hope. How strange. _

_'An orphanage uh?' Naruto thought with a small smile as he stared at a nearby orphanage. When he was still young, it was a sort of habit to watch the kids play at Konoha's orphanage. Even if when they had no parents, they were able to replace the gap that they had left by playing with other kids. It just show how much humans yearn for happiness despite living in a world where darkness is everywhere. He also liked to watch them because it reminded him of his first memories in which he could barely remember the innocence he had at that time._

_''Hello!'' A cheerful voice coming from the bottom of the building he was sitting on said. Looking down he was greeted by the sight of a pink haired girl of his age wearing short red shorts along with a white shirt. Her eyes were a deep red, a strange color. What puzzled him though is that she is wearing a knitted hat. Last time he checked, the weather in Fire Country is hot, not cold._

_''Hello?'' Naruto replied with a tiny curiosity._

_''Why are you on the roof?''_

_''Why would you want to know?'' Naruto asked tilting his head to the side._

_''Are you a shinobi? Those who do all those awesome techniques!'' She said and he could clearly hear the excitement in it._

_''Yes, why would you want to know?''_

_''I want you to train me! Some people are making fun of me and I want to defend myself!'' She said with conviction and Naruto sweatdropped. Talk about being straightforward. _

_''Why are they making fun of you?'' Naruto asked with a frown. He always dislike bullies who make fun of others. It's pathetic in his mind to make fun of someone else just because they are weaker than them._

_''I-It's not of your business!'' She defiantly replied. It brought a very small smile on Naruto's face._

_''Then I promise to train you only if you tell me why they are making fun of you. There must be a reason.''_

_''Alright...'' She dejectly said after a moment of thoughts. 'It's all or nothing.' She took off her knitted hat and Naruto immediately understood. She had two cat-like horns on top of her head which make her quite different from others._

_''I see... Honestly I don't care you have horns, I also have to admit that they're pretty nice.'' Naruto said and let out a small laugh._

_''Wh-what!?'' The girl stuttered in shock. No one had been that nice to her before. That and everyone thought that her horns were disgusting. ''Are... are you really serious?'' _

_''Of course... why?'' Naruto asked with a frown. His body stiffened when the girl launched herself at him to bring him in a hug._

_''Thank you thank you thank you! No one has ever been this nice to me before!'' She exclaimed with a big smile while Naruto was rooted in place. How long has it been since someone hugged him? He couldn't remember when was the last time. _

_''Uh... it's okay?'' Naruto said unsure of himself as he slowly returned the hug. After a minute of hugging her, he broke from it and looked at her in the eyes. ''Alright... I will train you...?'' He said and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. He didn't know why but he was lightly trembling. Was it happiness? _

_''Kaede, my name is Kaede! I dont have a second name.'' She said with a smile._

_''Mine is Naruto... only Naruto. Is there a specific area that you want to learn first?''_

_''Um... there might be a problem...'' She said as she looked at her feet in... shame?_

_''You have no chakra...'' Naruto pointed out and mentally slapped himself for not noticing earlier. How did he not feel it? Was he... slipping? Still, how can someone have no chakra... that's... impossible? As far as he know, every living things need chakra to survive yet, she had none. When she stayed silent, he got his answer. ''I don't care if you have none to be honest, I can teach you how to defend yourself by teaching you taijutsu if you want?''_

_''You.. still want to teach me even if I have no chakra?'' Kaede said looking at him in amazement._

_''Yeah...'' Naruto said and chuckled in embarrassment. Dammit, what was happening to him! Last time he checked, he had _never _blushed!_

_''Oh oh oh! Look at that guys! The little monster got herself a friend!'' Another kid of his age said with two of his goons behind him. ''Buddy, what are you doing here? Don't you know that its dangerous to be near a monster?'' The leader told Naruto with a haughty smirk as they neared them._

_''What... did you said?'' Naruto said as his hair obscured his eyes. How long was it since he experienced such... anger? Why was he feeling __that__? Is it because of Kaede? Dammit, what was happening to him since a few minutes! He felt like he was losing control of his emotions._

_''I said th-urgh!'' The leader gasp as he was lifted from the air by a hand around his neck. He struggled to breath but he failed. His body became limp after a few seconds and Naruto let the boy go as he fell to the floor. _

_His two goons stared at Naruto in terror. They turned to run back to search for help but they stopped when they saw the red haired boy standing in front of them. His face showed absolutely no emotion other than pure anger._

_''You- you're... a... a... shinobi!'' One of them stuttered in fear. They felt hopeless against this... _monster_._

_Naruto didnt answered them, he walked toward them and unsheathed a katana from one of his seal on his right arm. With a swift swing, the head of one of them fell to the floor then he plunged his katana in the heart of the other._

_''NARUTO! What are you doing!'' The sound of Jiraiya's voice reached him. Looking to the side with emotionless eyes, he raised an eyebrow in indifference when he saw a panicking Jiraiya approaching him._

_''I killed some who angered me... why?'' Naruto calmly answered._

_''Was that necessary to kill them?!'' Jiraiya said in exasperation as he stopped in front of him._

_''Yes... why?''_

_''Ugh! We will talk about that when we are back to Konoha. It's a festival, not a bloodbath so please, refrain from doing so again! A punishment will be in order because of what you did.'' His voice switched to a sad one. ''You are a shinobi... you should have a control over your emotions if so. I'm disapointed in you Naruto...'' Jiraiya said and quickly disappeared via a shunsin._

_''Wow!'' A voice said from behind him. Turning around he found Kaede looking at him in... admiration? ''How did you do this?! Can you teach me?! Please please please!''_

_''Are you not aware that I just brutally killed some people?'' Naruto asked with a frown._

_''Bah! They deserved to die after all they did to me!'' Kaede said with a sneer. ''Bad people should be killed, not left alive!''_

_''How true.'' Naruto said chuckling._

_''So... who was the white haired man?''_

_''My... _godfather_...'' Naruto said with venom in his voice before he stiffened in surprise again when he felt the arms of Kaede around his waist._

_''So... when are you going to start training me?'' She asked excited with a smile that Naruto won't be able to forget for a very long time._

**_End Flashback_**

* * *

His punishments for his actions toward the little gang had been a confinement inside the village for two months. Each five day he was tasked to do a D-rank mission. Once his confinement had been over, he went to visit Kaede... The problem was that he couldn't find her not matter what he did. He searched like a mad man for over a week to find her but all he found was nothing. He went to the orphanage but they said that she suddenly disappeared a month or so ago. If Rito's death had sent him in a depression then this had sunk him even further in it.

His 'parents' noticed his state and they had asked him what was wrong but he wanted nothing to do with them. They had their chance to do it when he was young but they missed it. Itachi, Shisui, Hiruzen and Kaguya had been saddened a lot by what happened to the girl. Each of them knew how important she became to him in the short laps of time they have known each other.

Shaking his head out of his thoughts, he got up and dressed up for the day. His attire consisted of a sort of mix between jounin and ANBU. He was wearing a pair of black shinobi sandals along with a pair of deep blue cargo pants. He also had a jounin jjacket over his black sleeveless shirt and to complete the looks, three shinobi pouches on his back-waist.

When he was fully dressed up, he went down the stairs and the first thing he saw was his mother making breakfast. Narrowing his eyes at her, he continued on his way to the door. Luck wasn't on his side it seems because halfway through his way to the door, the woman decided to try to speak to him.

''Good morning Naruto-kun... where are you going? Can't you at least stay with us for breakfast?'' Kushina told him and by the tone of her voice he saw that she was a lot nervous.

Looking at her for a minute of tense silence, he pondered on if he should answer her. That was what he often did after all. Briefly looking at her, he saw that she was biting her lips in anticipation and nervosity. Deciding that it wasn't worth wasting time to speak to her, he continued on his way without saying a word. He opened the door and went off to the meeting he had with black zetsu. Had he stayed a few more seconds inside, he would have seen his little sister looking at him from the top of the stairs in sadness and longing.

Black zetsu is a completely black humanoid figure that Kaguya created before she was sealed by her sons. Considering that Naruto's primary goal is to achieve peace through force by using the Infinite Tsukuyomi, Kaguya had advised him to meet black zetsu. That and the Infinite Tsukuyomi had another effect that he very much liked. By casting the Infinite Tsukuyomi, he would resurrect Kaguya by using the chakra of the people caught in it.

Kaguya had been right it seems. Over the years, his hate for humanity had greatly increased.

Speaking of Kaguya, he had learned who she truly was in one of their meetings. It had been... shocking but he was happy of it. It was also there where he learned of what the Infinite Tsukuyomi is along with a way to achieve peace. It had been a _very_ enlightening meeting. Who would had thought that that woman is the mother of the man revered as the sage of the six paths.

* * *

**_Flashback_**

_''I have a question.'' Naruto asked the rabbit woman sitting beside him. This was one of their meetings and he had a question that he had been wanting to ask her for a long time but he had refrained from doing so because he wanted to see if she would tell him what he wanted. That and he actually liked the discussions they had about pretty much anything. She also was one of the few humans, if she is one though he highly doubt it, that he liked to be around. Said woman raised an eyebrow in response. ''Who are you?''_

_Kaguya smiled in amusement showing that she had expect this to happen for some time._

_''You have grown, have you?'' She remarked as she stared at him for a few seconds. She couldn't help but be reminded of her sons. Unlike them, the boy before her is much more mature than her sons were at that age. Simply by looking at his face she could see that the shinobi life had hardened him over the years. Deciding to humor him, she answered his question._

_''Do you not remember my name?'' Kaguya replied with a small knowing smile. Resisting the urge to facepalm, Naruto calmly answered her._

_''Kaguya Otsutsuki yeah I know.'' He said and rolled his eyes in annoyance despite knowing that she was toying with him. ''Let me rephrase this then: What kind of woman could see the future of her descendants by using her chakra?''_

_''A woman that was hailed as the Rabbit Goddess or as a demon. A woman that unintentionally created the Juubi, progenitor of the tailed beasts. A woman that had two sons named Hagoromo and Hamura, one forgotten and the other known as the Sage of the Six paths. Does that answer your question?'' She replied and one could see a very minuscule amount of smugness at the reaction she got from the boy._

_''Wh-what?!'' Naruto murmured in shock. Multiple questions were instantly fired in his mind. So much that his mind blanked out for a few seconds. Slowly turning his head to look at her, his eyebrows raised even higher than they already were. He knew that this woman was definitively not normal from the moment he first met her. His suspicions were confirmed when he met her for the second time. Young, his sensor ability wasn't developed but now that it was, he could see how much power she held. It was simply unimaginable. His dad was not only doing pale figure beside her, there was simply no comparisons._

_Inwardly shaking his head to regain his thoughts, he calmed himself before trying to yet again, understand what Kaguya said again._

_'Ok... First things first.' Hw thought as he looked at the ground deep in thoughts. 'One that was hailed as the Rabbit Goddess or as a demon uh? Her horns can easily explain that along with her power backing it making it a realistic explanation. A woman that created the Juubi, progenitor of the tailed... beasts...' Realization slowly dawned on him as he understood what it might mean. Forgetting the other questions for the moment, he turned his head to look at her only to get a tick mark on his head after what she next said._

_''I didn't fried your brain... right? It would be bad after all, don't you agree?'' She asked with a smirk and Naruto could perfectly hear the pride it contained. She had expected this conversation to happen and she definitively wasn't disappointed even if he grew out of his shock too fast for her liking. Nevertheless, it would only make things easier in the future._

_'' Maybe but it doesn't matter. What do you mean by being hailed as the Rabbit Goddess or as a demon?'' Naruto said as he focused all of his attention on her._

_''I came from a very far away land to consume the fruit of a sacred tree. It was forbidden but in that era of endless wars between mankind I deemed it necessary for someone to attain god-like power so that peace could finally be achieved. I ate the fruit of the tree and it granted me the power needed to singlehandedly end all wars. Because of that, people came to worship me as the Rabbit Goddess because of my horns and the power I wield. The peace I fought to achieve was later shattered when groups of people started to form so that they could steal my power for their own purpose. I decided that enough was enough so I cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi.''_

_''What is that?'' Naruto asked and was surprised moment later when an eye appeared on her forehead._

_''By consuming the fruit of the sacred tree, I received part of its power. One of its power is a third eye that granted me incredible powers. By using that eye, I can cast an eternal genjutsu over the moon. All of those who are touched by the light of it are affected.''_

_''To sum it up, everyone is under your control as long as the genjutsu is active?'' Naruto said as he wondered if such a jutsu can even exist._

_''Yes and by using that jutsu, everyone under its control will be thrown in a dream-like world where their individual desires will be shown to them.'' Kaguya said but stopped when she noticed that Naruto seemed to want to say something._

_''So basically it not only strip them away of their will but it also put them in a dream world where their desires are shown to them uh? What a deadly genjutsu, how can you escape something that show you exactly what you want to see. Can you even get free from that?''_

_''Not that I know of.'' Kaguya said as she lightly smiled at him before continuing. ''I cast the genjutsu on the people of my nation and following that, I created my new army. If someone is held too long by the Infinite Tsukuyomi, he become what I dubbed as a white zetsu. The perfect soldier.''_

_''The perfect soldier? How?''_

_''They do not need to eat or drink or any other bodily functions that a human body have. They can merge with the ground and they are virtually undetectable because they can erase their chakra signature completely. Another thing is that they can take the appearance of someone else by using a technique. The difference between them and the person they can impersonate is seamless. They were the perfect spies and I used them a lot when I was still alive to prevent any conflicts from starting. Unfortunately, people began to see me as a demon after what I did to my home nation.''_

_''I see...'' Naruto mumbled as one of his question had been answered. ''What about the Juubi, what is it?'' He asked despite having his own intuitions on what that Juubi is._

_''The Juubi is the progenitor of the tailed beasts. It is the result of combining the nine tailed beasts into one. I unintentionally created it with my will when I noticed that my sons inherited part of my chakra. It is only years later that I understood that I was the one who created the beast.''_

_''Ok, time out!'' Naruto said as he frenetically waved his arms in the air. ''How is it possible to create something so powerful!? Even a thing such as creating the Kyuubi would be considered simply impossible. Now... you are telling me that the Juubi, the nine tailed beasts combine into one, is the result of your 'will'?!'' He finished in utter disbelief. Kaguya merely chuckled at his attitude. _

_''The world is bigger than you can think of. Nothing is impossible if you have the will for it. That and I have to admit that the power that the sacred tree granted me is simply unreal. I had the same reaction as you at first when I understood that the Juubi's birth was my fault. If you cannot believe me then how can you believe me when I say that there exist a genjutsu that can trap the whole world in a dream world?'' Kaguya asked back at him with a light smirk._

_''How true.'' Naruto reluctantly agreed as he temporarily closed his eyes deep in thoughts before reopening them a moment later. ''Still, how can it be true? That seem so... unreal?''_

_''Indeed but I have to admit that I still do not understand how I created it. The only thing I could think that might explain how I created it is that I wanted something deep in me but I could not get it. It may have triggered something in the hidden power I took from the sacred tree that made it real afterward.'' Kaguya said as she lightly shrugged her shoulders. She truly did not understand how the Juubi was created but she knew that it was because of her._

_''A desire so powerful that it became reality?'' Naruto wondered out loud with a frown._

_''Years after I consumed the fruit of the sacred tree, a tree that the people named the Shinju, I had two sons. They were Hagoromo and Hamura Otsutsuki. Hagoromo later became known as the Sage of the Six Paths. I dearly loved them.'' Kaguya said as tears appeared in her eyes. ''I watched them take their first steps, I taught them how to read and write, how to properly survive and so many other things...'' Her expression soon switched to one filled with hate. ''However, they betrayed me after their fight with the Juubi. They told me that I could not control my power and that I grew insane because of it. Peace can only be achieved through love they said... Only fools would believe such a thing. Humans are arrogant by nature and the simple fact of saying to someone that they are arrogant show how arrogant we are to critic someone else. I tried to make them see otherwise but they were utterly stubborn and they didn't changed of opinion.''_

_''How can someone think that love is the solution to end all wars? Love can unite the people but only for a time. Even then, love is a sort of peace full of loopholes for the greedy people to exploit.'' Naruto curiously asked and Kaguya calmed herself a moment later so that she could answer Naruto's question._

_''When someone do not know what violence truly is, he cannot understand why you and me believe that power is the way to unite people. Once people see what violence truly is, they drastically change and few, more likely none, remain like they once were. However, it is in the human's nature to hope against all odds. We cannot change that, it is just there.'' Kaguya finished with a frown and Naruto inwardly agreed at her words before his eyebrows raised a bit when he saw that her body was beginning to glow._

_''To the next time we meet each other.'' Kaguya announced with a motherly smile that Naruto gladly returned._

**_End Flashback_**

* * *

After that, he met black zetsu by using a technique that Kaguya taught him to summon him. Black zetsu had been rather surprised when a kid summoned him by using one of the techniques of his mother. His surprise quickly died when he stared in the kid's eyes. They were the kind of eyes that only a seasoned warrior had. What troubled him more though is that he was only a nine years old kid, not even an adult. That and when he talked to Naruto he felt like he was speaking to an adult, not a kid. His knowledge of the world around him also surprised him very much. He quickly understood why when Naruto told him of the events that led him to believe that peace through force is the only way to stop the endless wars.

After that, Naruto shared what Kaguya told him to tell black zetsu. Understanding, black zetsu went into his mindscape where they had a long discussion with Kaguya on what to do next for her resurrection.

That is what led him to where he is now. Forty-ninth training ground, far from Konoha's walls, thus a perfect place for meeting black Zetsu in secret. Naruto was going to leave the village soon to begin his quest to achieve peace. Kaguya and black Zetsu had advised him to fake his death so that he would not have an army of Konoha shinobi hunting him to bring him back. He had been more than happy to do that because other than Itachi, Shisui and Hiruzen, he hated to be in Konoha. It restricted his freedom and the greedy and corrupted people that were tainting the streets was making him sick.

Black Zetsu suggested him to schedule Izanagi, a technique of the mangekyo sharingan, to activate a week after his death. Yes, he had awakened the mangekyo sharingan when Rito had died but he had barely used it considering it progressively blind the user. Mix his Senju's heritage along with his Uchiha's heritage and he would be able to perfectly use Izanagi. It would render him blind but with a bit of the chakra of Kaguya, his mangekyo sharingan will evolve into a rinnegan and he would gain his eyesight back at the same time.

After faking his death, black zetsu will send him to Madara Uchiha to be trained by him. It had also been a shocking news when he learned that Madara is still alive. He later learned that Madara faked his death by using the same technique he was going to use to fake his. He supposedly died years ago when he trained an Uchiha named Obito Uchiha to continue his legacy. He recognized that name, it was the name of Kakashi's old teammate that supposedly died in the Third Shinobi War. Madara didn't died though, he still had many years before dying but he wanted to see if the young Uchiha was going to betray him. He did and Madara ordered him to be killed by Zetsu and now he was looking for another person for it.

When he had asked why they choose to rely on him and not Madara for the resurrection of Kaguya, Kaguya had answered him that she preferred him over Madara. He had a potential greater than Madara and Madara was on his own side, not theirs. It would make things immensely easier to have him over Madara but for precautions, they decided that he would only intervened if things got out of control with Madara. That and now that Obito was dead, they had no one to replace him.

However, Naruto still was an eleven years old kid despite how intelligent he was for his age. By using an advanced seal, they were going to seal every memory about Kaguya and Zetsu. That way Madara will not suspect a thing and when he will truly die, black zetsu will remove the seal.

''There you are, I was wondering if you were going to show up.'' Naruto said to seemingly no one. A second later, a black humanoid figure rose from the ground beside him.

''**You will have to forgive me then, I was checking the surroundings to see if there was anyone that might overhear us.**'' Black Zetsu said. Normally he would be harsh and cruel to mostly everyone but his mother told him to respect Naruto as if it was her. Another reason is that he knew what Naruto had to endured ever since he was born and for that, he deeply respected him.

''Anyways, lets get back to the plan.''

* * *

''Uzumaki Naruto, Uzuki Yugao, Mitarashi Anko, Maito Gai and Hatake Kakashi, you have been assigned to an A-class borderline S-class mission in Grass Country. We have suspicions that they might have broken our peace treaty by letting Iwa shinobis pass through their country. A lot of villages have been attacked near the border and we want you to investigate Mushroom Valley, the place where we believe that the Iwa shinobis are passing through. Mushroom Valley is a valley that separated Grass Country in two and it offers a direct passage to the Land of Fire from the Land of Earth.''

''May I ask a question, Hokage-sama?'' Kakashi asked and Minato nodded. ''Why us specifically? A team of tracker would a better choice no?''

''We thought of it but we decided against it for the reason that a lot of shinobis may be stationed there so we chose to send a strong team that will be able to deal with most situations. Uzumaki Naruto will be the sensor and genjutsu specialist, Uzuki Yugao the kenjutsu specialist, Mitarashi Anko is a new member of the Interrogation Force and will interrogate anyone if needed, Maito Gai will be the taijutsu specialist and Kakashi the ninjutsu specialist. Understood?''

''Yes!'' The five shinobis said in unison.

''Kakashi will be the leader for this mission. I also need to briefly speak to you alone.'' Minato said and Kakashi nodded.

''Meet me at the west gate in ten minutes.'' Kakashi said to his team. Nodding, they disappeared to get their things for the mission. ''What did you wish to talk to me about?''

''Kakashi... I'm going to speak to you as a friend, not as my student so please... listen very well.'' Minato said and Kakashi noted that his expression darkened considerably.

''I'm listening.'' Kakashi said with a seriousness that few had seen. Whatever could make his sensei that nervous was something worth all of his attention. The last time he had seen that expression had been just before the Kyuubi incident.

''I... I don't know why but I have a bad feeling about this mission. Just... make sure that everyone come home alive... alright?'' Minato said as the nervousness started to get to him.

''I will try...'' Kakashi drearily said after a minute of silence. ''I cannot promise you though, I'm not good with promises, you know what happened to Obito and Rin... I couldn't save them.''

''Just try... That's all I'm asking you.''

* * *

''I see why they call it Mushroom valley.'' Yugao said with a smile while the others agreed with her.

They had just entered Mushroom Valley when they noticed how it was filled to the brim with giant mushrooms everywhere. The only place where the mushrooms weren't present was on the ground of the valley. Other than the mushrooms growing on the cliffs of the valley, there wasn't much in the valley. A plain and simple valley like some might say.

''What did you expected? A valley called mushroom valley with no mushrooms in it?'' Anko sarcastically replied. A tick mark appeared on Yugao's head while Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle. He quickly shut up though when he saw the look Yugao was sending him.

Their bickering continued for some time before Naruto stopped them.

''What is it Naruto-kun?'' Kakashi asked ready to uncover his sharingan.

''...Fuck, we have been surrounded. It's an ambush!'' Naruto said and the moment after, explosions were heard from the top of the valley.

Giant boulders were falling toward them and it forced them to separate. Kakashi and Naruto went on one side while Gai, Anko and Yugao went on the other. Shinobis instantly surrounded Kakashi and Naruto.

''Copy Ninja Kakashi and the son of the Fourth Hokage. How lucky we are.'' A black haired shinobi said. He was wearing a bright brown flak jacket over a red uniform under it. The ten other shinobi were also wearing a similar clothing. What surprised Kakashi is the forehead protector on their front head.

''So Iwa is truly behind this.'' Kakashi said to himself before quickly looking at Naruto beside him. _'Why is he so calm? I have never seen him this calm.'_

''We were waiting for you, you know.'' Another said. ''Surrender and we will give you a quick death, we are 5 jounin and 5 chuunin, you have no chance.''

_'How arrogant are they.'_ Naruto thought in disdain. _'They told us how skilled they are and they honestly expect us to not fight back? That's one of the many reasons I hate them. Always overconfident.'_

Making a katana appear from one of the seals he have on his right arm, he ran toward them. One of them got the hint and took a katana from his back and dashed toward him. When Naruto was near enough, he threw his katana at his enemy. He quickly dodged it but it left him destabilized and that was all Naruto needed. Reaching for his neck, Naruto got a firm hold of it and threw him off balance. Now in the air, the Iwa shinobi realized how vulnerable he was. Swiftly taking a kunai out of one of his pouches, Naruto plunged it in his heart.

Seeing how quickly one of their comrades was disposed of by an eleven years old, the other Iwa shinobi realized how dangerous he was and that underestimating him will only lead to death. Taking a quick look in Kakashi's direction, Naruto saw that he had already killed three of them. Focusing back on those before him, he took a defensive position when two of them dashed at him. An intense fight of taijutsu followed and Naruto was completely on the defensive. He could take one of them but not two. Jumping back, he quickly formed hand-seals.

''**Katon: Great Fireball Jutsu!**'' Naruto said and a burning fireball expelled from his mouth toward his attackers.

''Fu-!'' His attackers said before they were burned to ash. Turning to look back at his enemies, he noticed that only two of them were left. One of them was running at him.

'It's now or never.' Naruto thought as he closed his right eye to schedule Izanagi to activate in a week. Once it was done, he took a kunai and engaged the man who also had a kunai. Swinging at his head, it was blocked by the Iwa shinobi. The Iwa shinobi took advantage of that and kicked Naruto in the stomach resulting in him losing his kunai in the process. '_Fuck, I got careless on that one.'_ He mentally berated himself.

Dodging the following punch aimed at his head, he swung his left leg at his opponent's left side only for it to be blocked with his right hand. Firmly gripping Naruto's ankle, he took a kunai and time seemed to slow down as the kunai moved closer and closer to his heart. Naruto tried to block it but he purposely slowed down his speed so that he would not be able to block it with his hands

''DIE!'' The man shouted as Naruto felt the kunai pierce his flesh. He could hear his heart beating in his head. From the corner of his head he saw Kakashi running toward him with a desperate look on his face.

''NARUTOOOOO!'' Kakashi screamed as tried to get there as fast as he could in time to stop it. He had already lost Obito and Rin... He would be damned if something like that happened again! Despite being a reclusive person, Kakashi had to admit that he was fond of him.

Tears started to flow from his eyes when he saw the kunai buried in Naruto's stomach. More precisely, where his heart is.

Harshly withdrawing his kunai from the little boy's heart, the Iwa shinobi had no time to understand what happened next as his head was decapitated from his body.

Falling to his knees near the corpse of Naruto, Kakashi started to pound the ground with his right hand in frustration.

''Damnit! Damnit Damnit! Why did it have to happen!?'' Kakashi said as his voice trembled from misery. '_Why... Why!? Obito... Rin... and now Naruto... Why does the world have to be so cruel!'_

''Kakashi! We have... just... finished... Oh no!'' Gai said once they jumped over the mountain of rocks. The other wondered what was wrong before seeing Naruto with a kunai buried in his heart. They paled as they slowly realized what had happened.

* * *

A pair of dark blue eyes automatically opened in a darkness so dark that no one could see anything. The body of said person shortly disappeared before reappearing elsewhere.

''**It worked.**'' Black zetsu said in satisfaction when he noticed that Naruto had appeared inside their hideout inside the Hokage Monument.

''Yes, the first part of the plan has been achievement. I hope my funerals were good.'' Naruto said with a smirk.

''**Yes, a lot of people were crying.**'' If Zetsu had a mouth then one would have seen the smirk.

''Lets start part two of the plan.'' Naruto said in anticipation and black Zetsu nodded.

* * *

**Finally finished! So, how did you find the chapter? Sorry for not updating in a while but I kinda lost the will to write but now I should be back! Someone said in the reviews that stories like these always never end because there is no ending. Well sorry for you then because I have the ending in my head and that's where I'm going to.**

**I am trying to make Naruto strong but not godlike. Naruto will be **_**incredibly **_**strong but not godlike. It's like the thing with Madara, Naruto may be strong but he CANNOT deceive Madara. Madara simply has too much experiences to be able to be fooled by Naruto. Maybe later but not now. I also tried to show a bit of Naruto's insanity in this chapter due to the traumatic experiences he had and I will try to show more of it in the next chapters. It will eventually end because I plan to make something that will mostly take it away in one shot.**

**If there is some plot holes then please inform me because I truly hate to left plot holes. I made Naruto hate his family but I also tried to make a very good reason for it. Naruto's relationship is rather mysterious with his family and I intend to left it at that for a while. For the Kaguya-Shinju-Juubi I honestly tried to understand but it has left me really confused I ****think**** lol. **

**Sorry about my grammar but English is not my first language. It is a bit hard to write in a language that I understand but not to its fullest capacity. I am mostly working on my verb tenses while trying to use more synonyms. I am also trying to refine my sad and fight scenes.**

**About Kaguya, Naruto will NOT be paired with her. She will be a mentor for him plain and simple. Kaede is the girl Naruto is paired with. She may have no chakra but she have another ability deadlier than most jutsu. If you check Elfen Lied's wiki then you will understand what her ability is. I also intend for Kaede to be a mysterious figure considering she has no chakra at all. **

**Next chapter will have a flashback of Naruto's funerals.**

**P-S I plan to create a sort of monster similar to the Juubi that Kaguya created but this time, it will be Naruto who will create one by accident. Don't worry, it will be **_**much weaker**_** than the Juubi. It will be weaker than Naruto but one of its attributes will be his insane speed. It will be very powerful but not more than Naruto. I would be crazy to create a second Juubi lol. I plan to make a poll on what name it will have next chapter. The two I have in mind right now are: The Thing and the Creep. Ideas for the name are welcome!**

**Good day everyone and thank you for reading! **


	3. Grief And Manipulation

**Yeah again sorry for the time it took, life happen and I just came back from a three week travel to Italy. That and the chapter was incredibly hard to write.**

**I felt the need to clarify the age of everyone considering how confusing it might get(note that the age written below is the age of everyone at the beginning of this chapter).**

**Naruto and Itachi: 11**

**Kakashi and Gai: 19**

**Anko: 17**

**Yugao: 15**

**Sasuke, Natsumi and Menma: 5**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

''Where am I?'' A voice muttered in a dark place deep underground somewhere in the Elemental Nations.

''You previously were at Death's doors but right now you are alive, I have no idea how though.'' An old man beside him said.

Looking at him Naruto noticed that the man was wearing a simple black outfit along with a kuma to act as a support instead of a cane. He had long white hair that reached past his shoulders and strangely enough, he only had one eye. Feeling something soft under him, Naruto saw that he was laying on a makeshift bed.

''I was... at Death's doors?'' Naruto said with a frown.

For some reason his head felt like a mess. A second later he quickly understood what the old man said. He remembered everything now, his name is Naruto and... how he wished he hadn't remembered. All the traumatic experiences he lived came back at him in full force and he felt as if he was reviving them. The massacre of the Third Shinobi War he and Itachi witnessed, the Kyuubi incident, the Iwa assassination attempt, his parents forgetting of him in favor of the twins, Kaede's disappearance and the despair he felt at that moment. That and his... death?

''**Yes, we found you at Mushroom valley in Grass Country. You were in a pretty bad shape.**'' Another voice said beside him said and what he saw surprised him. One half of the one who spoke was black while the other was white. The white half had a yellow eye along with a mouth and the black part only had an eye that lack any sclerae or pupils. The only thing they had in common was the body and the little patch of short green hair on top of their head. ''In bad shape? I would say nearly dead. Who would survive by having his heart pierced?'' The white half said.

''My guess is that your Uzumaki regeneration has awakened and it barely saved your life.'' The old man said.

''My Uzumaki regeneration? I know that my clan can produce chakra chains but... regenerative powers? That's the first time I have heard of such a thing...'' Naruto said before he frowned in confusion. ''Who are you?''

''You can call me White Zetsu and the one beside me **is Black Zetsu**.''

''And you old man?'' Naruto asked with precaution. He could feel that despite being old, his chakra reserves were enormous. It dwarfed his and that was something considering his old age. The older a shinobi get, the more their chakra reserves decrease. Turning his back on him, he went and sat on a throne near them.

''My name is Uchiha Madara, young Uzumaki.'' The old man said with boredom but Naruto felt... some anticipation in it too? He wasn't sure of it though.

''Uchiha Madara died in his battle long ago, that's just impossible.'' Naruto said with a sneer.

''How do you want to believe me then?'' The old man said with a small knowing smile.

''Show me Madara's mangekyo sharingan.'' Naruto bluntly said.

''And how might you know of the mangekyo sharingan? Only a small amount of Uchihas know of it.'' Madara said narrowing his eyes at him. Last he checked, the mangekyo sharingan was a closed guard secret that very few have access to.

''Show me and I will tell you.'' Naruto said narrowing his eyes back at him in defiance. They intensely stared at each other for a few minutes before Madara started to chuckle.

''You definitively have the stubbornness the Uzumaki are known to have.'' Madara said with a smile as he thoughts of all the Uzumakis he fought in the past. If there was one clan that Madara could respect then it was them. They were loyal to their allies and they weren't warlike people but if their allies needed help then they would fight till their last breath. It was a shame that the Senju allied themselves with them instead of with his clan. ''Alright, I will show you my mangekyo sharingan.''

What followed shocked Naruto.

''You really are Madara Uchiha then.'' Naruto muttered wide eyed at seeing his mangekyo sharingan. He would recognize it everywhere after seeing it in an old book in Itachi's house. ''How?'' He couldn't help but ask.

''Everyone thought I died in my battle with Hashirama but I survived. That thing behind me.'' He said gesturing to the giant statue hovering over him. '' Has been keeping me alive for a long time. If I stop to absorb its chakra, I will die. Before you tell me how you know of the mangekyo sharingan, I have a question.''

''Which is?'' He replied curious.

''What do you think of this world?''

''… It's hell.'' Naruto said with a sigh after thinking for a few moments.

If the old man before him is really Madara Uchiha then his chances of escaping alive were rather slim. He wouldn't underestimate an old man under any circumstances. He, Itachi and Shisui were perfect examples that no one should be underestimated. They were considered as kids but they could easily kill a full grown shinobi adult.

''Why is that?'' Madara said with a tint of curiosity in his voice.

''Darkness, corruption and hate are everywhere. I had an old dream where I thought that peace was possible by love. How naïve was I to think of that? Peace through love is simply impossible. Wherever there is love, hate will be present. One grant the other to exist. Corruption rule the world. Give a small amount of power to someone and most of them go crazy. The shinobi world in itself has been born because of the hate and anger people have toward each other.'' Naruto finished with a sigh while looking at the ground in frustration.

'He's perfect! Even Obito cannot compare to him!' Madara thought with a wide smile. ''I have a proposition for you.''

''What kind of proposition?'' Naruto asked.

''Tell me, what do you know of the Infinite Tsukuyomi?''

* * *

**(Enter Music: Naruto Shippuden - Despair/Loneliness/Man Of The World/ Nightfall)**

**Four Days Before**

It was a cold and dark evening. The clouds were unusually dark and strong gusts of wind made it even worse. The thunder was heard from time to time but no rain or lightning seemed to be present.

A group of people had gathered around a hole in which an opened coffin had been laid out into.

The person in it had short spiky red hair. His eyes were closed and he was wearing a black robe.

Taking the cover of the coffin, Minato placed it onto the coffin and it closed with a small 'click'. He had an awful and depressed expression on his face. Tears were threatening to fell from his face but he held them with an extreme difficulty. He knew it was only a matter of time before the dam of tears broke. The death of his eldest son had sent him in a sadness that only a father that had lost one of his child could understand. His heart felt like it was continuously pierced by countless needles. Countless needles in which regrets, guilt and shame were mostly present. They neglected him, they forgot the role a parent must play for their children and they didn't supported him when he needed them the most. They thought he could handle himself but the years proved them otherwise. His traumatic experiences had hurt him even more than they had thought and they paid the price for it.

'The weather... You're angry at us Naruto... I am deeply sorry son... if I can even call you that because of my failure as a father.' Minato thought as tears silently started flowing down on his face. He tried to stop them but it was simply impossible. Briefly closing his eyes in sorrow respect to the grave in front of him, he reopened them a moment in later.

'Uh? Where am I?' Minato thought as he no longer was in Konoha's graveyard. Looking around him he quickly noticed that he was in his office, the Hokage's tower. The problem though was that he couldn't hear anything. A thick white fog also seemed to surround Konoha beyond its walls. Another thing that bothered him was that there was no one in the streets.

''Is that it?'' A voice startling him said from behind him. Turning around he saw someone who wasn't there before. The person who spoke was a short spiky red haired boy who had roughly ten to twelve years old from a brief estimation. He was dressed in a sort of mix between jounin and ANBU and he had his head down so he could not see his eyes.

''Na...Naruto?'' Minato whispered to himself in disbelief. His body started to lightly shake in shock from seeing his child who he had just buried recently.

''You of all people should know that I was truly happy with her... Why do you refuse me the right to go and see her? Its already been one month and I need to know how she is... You claim that you want to reconnect the bridge that separate us but all you are doing is breaking that bridge in more pieces.''

'That conversation... I already lived it. Am I... reliving that memory?' Minato thought trying to understand what was currently happening.

''I have had enough of that. Hiruzen constantly say that I should forgive you and Kushina-san for what has happened between us. I tried, really, but I just lost any hope of any reconnection we might have in the future after this conversation. A parent should always support their child in their hardest moments, yet, all you and Kushina-san have done is making me more suffer by thinking you are doing the 'right' thing to reconnect with me. Don't you understand that Kaede was one of the few good things that has happened in my life so far? Do you know why I haven't gone rogue or killed everyone who annoy me ever since Rito died? Do you know why I constantly avoid Natsumi and Menma? Do you even know what my favorite meal is? From now on... my name is not Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. It's just Naruto.'' Naruto said and turned around heading for the door.

''Wait! Naruto!'' Minato said as he ran toward Naruto. He wasn't fast enough however because each time he seemed to be getting closer to him, Naruto was getting farther. Naruto reached the door and closed it behind him.

Following him, Minato finally got to the door and he opened it.

'What? Where am I this time?' Minato though looking around him. He was in the clearing of a forest and a wooden post was in the middle of it. The same white fog was now surrounding the clearing although he could see a few trees. What he immediately noticed though was Naruto in the middle of it who was punching it in anger and frustration.

''Idiots! The lots of them!'' Naruto angrily said as he let out his frustration on the wooden post. ''Why cant they understand! The world is corrupted to the bone and all they're doing is sitting on their asses and doing nothing!

Minato wanted to help him but something in the back of his mind hold him back to see what would happen. Everytime he saw Naruto, he always was in complete control of himself unlike right now. Seeing him like that was definitively a first. After a minute of two, Naruto stopped to punch the wooden post and fell to the ground in frustration. What he next said, Minato had hoped that he would never heard it.

''I hate you... Minato Namikaze... Kushina Uzumaki.'' Naruto venemously said and after a moment, he outright laugh and the madness from it sent chills down Minato's spine. ''How ironic is it that one prevented me from seeing a friend who is most likely gone by now because of him while the other is responsible of the death of my other friend...

The environment disappeared and Minato was back in Konoha's graveyard. Shaking his head out of these thoughts, he decided to think about that later. He had a funeral to finish.

Jumping out of the hole, he went beside his wife whose mind was a wreck of sheer desolation at seeing her son dead. Tears were abundantly flowing down Kushina's face from grief. Grief that herself had caused to her first son. She had always hoped the best for her son but he grew up too fast. She still could remember the one he was before he and Itachi witnessed a massacre at the mere age of four. How she hoped that she could go back to these days where he was simply an innocent boy. After the massacre... he drastically changed and she slowly started to loose sight of him. She tried to reach to him but she never could. It was as if they were speaking different languages. They couldn't understand the other and that is what made them gradually grow apart from each other. The only relief that she had at the moment is that the twins will only learn in a few years of what truly happened to their older brother. She needs to let them grow before telling them the hard truth. Naruto's death made her realize that they need to have a normal childhood instead of a nightmare-like like Naruto had.

That and her part in Rito's death still haunt her.

A grim expression on his face, Hiruzen started to bury Naruto's coffin with a shovel. He had done that many times before and he still couldn't get used to it no matter what. Years of experience prevented him from crying but he still felt a sharp pang of pain from losing a dear friend. Pessimist and depressive he may be but Hiruzen knew that very deep inside him there was an extremely minuscule amount of hope.

'If only you could be here Jiraiya...' Hiruzen thought with a light frown. The relationship between Jiraiya and Naruto was a strange one. Even he could not understand them and that was saying something considering his experience.

A bit beside Hiruzen were Shisui and Itachi dressed in their ANBU outfit. Both of them were silently crying the friend they had lost. Back in the academy, they were taught that a shinobi's life was going to be hard but it was only in these moments that they could truly understand. It wasn't easy but they had to endure the pain for that is what a shinobi is. Someone who suffer to achieve his goals. Unfortunately for Naruto, he suffered too much for such a young life. They tried to appease that pain but they could only do so much. The only solace they had was that he could finally be at peace wherever he was now.

Even then, the pain was nearly unbearable for them. Naruto's death reminded them too much of Rito's death. The conditions were the same, the only difference being that more people were present.

Standing a bit behind everyone was Kakashi. He had his head down and was looking at the floor. His father, Obito, Rin and now Naruto. They all died because of him. Even with all of his years of experience, he couldn't stop the tears from flowing out of his eyes. The pain in his chest was horrible.

He didn't know how much time he spent there but when he looked up, only he and Minato were still present. Minato-sensei... He didn't know if he could face him after what he has done. It was his fault that his son had died after all.

''Kakashi.'' Minato softly said with his back turned to him. Kakashi tried to answer but no word came . ''Don't blame yourself, if it is someone's fault then it's my fault for not training him enough or trying to understand him sooner.''

''But Minato-sensei...'' Kakashi said with apprehension. ''I was the leader of that squad and when were ambushed it was my responsibility to take cared of him... and I failed.''

''Stop blaming yourself as I said.'' Minato said and turned around and walked toward him. When he was near him, he stopped and put a hand on Kakashi's shoulder. ''We are shinobis, we suffer to achieve our goals and we must live to prepare the next generation for what is to come. I am the one who killed Naruto, not you.''

''It is not your fault, Kakashi, Minato.'' A voice said and both turned to see who it was.

''Jiraiya-sama.'' Kakashi said in surprise. He didn't expected him to be here.

''I'm sorry I could not be there but one of my spies needed to urgently talk to me.'' Jiraiya mournfully said with his head down in respect to his now dead godchild. ''Anyways, like Minato said, it isn't your fault Kakashi. We can only endure so much before we fail. You led your squad like a true leader should have done so don't have any regrets on it. If you want to do something about it then grow stronger so that something like that will never happen again. The past is the past, stop dwelling on it. Understood?''

''Yes... thank you Jiraiya-sama.'' Kakashi said with a very small smile.

''Minato... I would like to say that you have no part in Naruto's death... but I would be a liar. We are the responsibles of his death. Me, as his godfather and you, as his father. He suffered too much for someone too young and all we have done is looking at him from far away. We should have prepared him more for what life had in store for him but we stayed away from him far too long. We should have been the pillars that support the platform he lived on, but we weren't. We stayed away from him for too long and we paid the price for it. All we can do is continue to live and learn from our mistakes.'' Jiraiya said with a heavy heart. It definitively wasn't easy to hear that his godchild died on a mission and it was even harder to not come to his funerals because one of his spies wanted to talk to him.

''I know.'' Minato responded with a small sigh. ''But even then... it will take some time to overcome this. Kushina mainly knowing that she still blame herself for Rito's death and Naruto was her only hope of redemption.''

''True but she didn't know what was going to happen so we can't really blame her.'' Minato said and turned around. ''I'm going back to my office, I still have work to do.'' He said and disappeared a moment later by using his famous jutsu.

''I'm also going to go... thank you for your words Jiraiya-sama.'' Kakashi said and disappeared a moment later via a shunshin.

With no one else around, he stayed a long time in front of his tombstone thinking of all the moments he and Naruto shared.

An hour or so later, he decided to leave the graveyard. Walking out of the graveyard, he noticed a particular tombstone. One he had seen Naruto in front of too many times.

_Rito Yamanaka_

_**(Finish Music: Naruto Shippuden - Despair/Loneliness/Man Of The World/ Nightfall)**_

* * *

**Two Years Later**

''It feels good to have my memories back.'' Naruto muttered as the pain in his head was slowly being wash away.

''Yes, but the plan couldn't have a better result.'' White Zetsu said with a wide smirk and after saying that, black Zetsu detached himself from his counterpart.

''**Indeed, Madara did not suspect at all that he was the one being fooled. How ironic is it for him to think that he is the puppet-master when in reality, he is the puppet**.'' Black Zetsu said looking in morbid amusement at the corpse of Madara on his stone throne. It was funny how such a legendary shinobi could have been manipulated so easily.

''Why did you told white Zetsu of our plan?'' Naruto asked black Zetsu with a deep frown.

'_**The white Zetsus are my army, thus they also respond to your wish.**_' A silky voice said in his head.

'...Kaguya?' Naruto thought in surprise. 'How can you talk to me?'

'_**Whenever you are near the Juubi's husk, I can speak to you. Part of my chakra is conserved deep inside it and it allow me to communicate with you. I could have spoken to you during the two years Madara trained you but he would have noticed that something might be wrong. That and you still had the seal on.**_'

In the last two years Madara trained him to the bone so that he could take on his legacy. Even with the seal suppressing his memories of Kaguya and Zetsu, he wouldn't have followed the path that Madara wanted him to follow. Madara knew of that and he put a puppet-master seal on his heart but fortunately for him, black Zetsu removed it before breaking the seal containing his memories of him and Kaguya.

When the seal had been applied, Madara started to train him more seriously.

His wind ninjutsu increased to mid-ANBU level while his water ninjutsu got to high-jounin. Genjutsu is one of his best skills so he didn't really focused on it. Madara mostly trained him on how to cast genjutsus with his eyes. His taijutsu was now on par with a mid-ANBU level and his kenjutsu was on a low-ANBU level.

Naruto had also revealed his mangekyo sharingan to Madara and it had been extremely advantageous considering how much he learned from it. They found it weird that he wasn't affected by the blindness of overusing it but Madara assumed that his incredibly strong life force from his Uzumaki side assured him to not go blind. Knowing that he could fully use the mangekyo sharingan, Naruto made sure to know practically everything about it. The techniques he received from them were fully mastered during his two years training. He still had a few techniques he couldn't use because of his young body but he wasn't too worried about it.

Taking in account that he is an Uzumaki, Madara also trained him in Fuijutsu and to say that it got no result would be a vast understatement. The red haired boy was a prodigy. Right now he was at a jounin's level in term of expertise in seals. It may not be high but most people rarely reached past that level.

However, the bigger part of his training was spent on learning war strategies and exploring the Elemental Nations. Zetsu's ability to travel across the whole land helped them a lot. He may be young but what he really needed was experience. Before being trained by Madara, he had more power than experience and that was something that he corrected in the two years that he trained him.

''**When are you going to implant Obito's eye into yours?**'' Black Zetsu asked.

''Funny how Madara though you were a better choice for his legacy rather than Obito. Shame that he asked us to kill him though, he was a very good puppet.'' White Zetsu said with a cheeky grin.

''I will wait a few years, I still need my body to mature. Alright, what now? We still have six years before our plan goes in action.'' Naruto said and put on a black cloak on him.

''**Before that, we found something a few days ago... something that will interest you.**'' Black Zetsu said and Naruto could feel a bit of... sympathy?

''Yes, you will definitively be interested in hearing it.'' White Zetsu said with a serious face.

''What is it then?'' Naruto asked with a frown.

''**Kaede is alive... and we know where she is.**''

* * *

**This chapter is shorter than those before and I know it. That chapter is an interlude and I tried to compensate that fact by leaking more informations about my story. Short chapter it may be, but lot of infos it have in it.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter despite it being a bit short. I like to read your reviews and thank you for those who reviewed the last chapters! It helped me to know my strengths and weaknesses.**

**Next chapter: Reunion**


	4. Reunion

**Long time no updates yeah sorry but I lost the will to write... again... I'm sorry lol. Life just happen and I can do nothing about it. Oh well, here is the chapter and I hope that even though the chapter is small, it will be worth the wait with the number of surprises. Good news though, cannon start next chapter.**

* * *

''What... did you said?'' Naruto muttered in shock.

''**Kaede... the girl you speak so fondly of is alive and we know where she is. We though about telling you a few days ago but it could have endangered the plan.**'' Black Zetsu said with an impassive face.

''Where... is she then?'' Naruto said looking at the ground. Three years... after three years of searching her everywhere... he had finally found her.

''In a laboratory deep underground. They have tried for over three years to experiment on her but most of it failed because she killed anyone who comes near her. The reason she was abducted in the first place is that one of their spies in Tanzaku town told them of a girl with no chakra. That interested them and they kidnapped her because she is a perfect candidate for a project to increase the overall strength of their shinobis. Never seen someone with no chakra and I had my doubts about it but we confirmed it, she truly have no chakra. That's... not the most troubling thing though.'' White Zetsu finished with a grimace.

''What do you mean?'' Naruto asked with a deep frown as he lifted his head a bit. His eyes could be seen and both of them shivered as they gazed upon them.

'**That boy...**' Black Zetsu thought as he looked in Naruto's eyes. '**No wonder mother choose him to be her heir. I have lived for thousands of years and seen countless things and here I am... fearing the power this boy has. He will definitively surpass Madara or Hashirama in just few years.'**

''She may have no chakra but she has something else.'' White Zetsu said trying to keep a neutral expression as Naruto was staring at him. The contained fury in Naruto's eyes made him wants to flee and never come back. ''She possess ten sort of invisible arms that can reach out to three meters all around her. These 'invisible arms' can go through anything and they can become solid if she makes them vibrate at a high frequency. She killed a great number of their shinobis and scientists by using her 'vectors' as they dubbed them to slice and kill those who come too close to her. An interesting thing about them is that they can enter the mind of someone and control them for a short amount of time. It fries the brain at long but she can only do so by staying near that person.''

''What else have they done to her?'' Naruto asked as he started trembling from anger.

''**The only time they were able to go close to her, which isn't a lot considering how much people she killed, they injected her with a solution to exponentially increase her strength, speed and durability. The last injection they made to her was yesterday and it allow her to have enhanced reflexes. We didn't read much, only what was necessary. Do not worry, no harm was done to her apart from the fact that she hasn't seen the sun or walked for over three years. They feared her too much to even go near her.**''

''Eh, a village full of shinobi fearing a little girl? I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see her bisect a scientist in two. It was... bloody and gore?'' White Zetsu said with a small grimace.

''Where... is that laboratory?'' Naruto demanded and white Zetsu started to sweat remembering Naruto was in front of him. He mentally scold himself for trying to make a joke at that time. Fortunately, it wasn't him who spoke, probably saving his life.

''**Twenty miles to the north of Kusa.**''

The chakra of Naruto exploded as it grew to an immense level. His whole body was shaking from pure anger and his eyes gained an extremely dangerous glint in them. The room was progressively getting colder.

''Kusa?'' Naruto calmly whispered though the Zetsu duo clearly heard him. ''Why must it be always them... I'm tired of them. First Rito and now Kaede. Enough is enough. I'm going to wipe them off the map... Zetsu!''

''Yes!'' White Zetsu hurriedly said as he touched Naruto and a second later both of them merged with the floor.

When the three of them reappeared, they were standing on a branch in the large forest of the Grass Country. Below them was two shinobis guarding the entrance of a sort of cavern. Their forehead protector was showing the symbol of Kusa, a symbol that Naruto learned to hate.

Wasting no time, Naruto jumped below and in mid air flicked two kunais out of his sleeves. Taking a hold of them, he threw them at the guards. They had no time to react as the kunais went through their heads.

Going through some hand seals, Naruto slapped his hand on the ground. A puff of smoke appeared and when it cleared, the zetsus were stunned at Naruto's summoning animal.

What stood in front of them is an eight feet tall semi-humanoid creature with a slim yet powerful build. He has white hair that reached past his shoulders along with some strands of hair that lean forward on its forehead and his eyes are yellow with black slits in the middle. A noticeable fact about him is the fact that instead of a mouth he has the beak of a bird. Behind him were two black wings that could span out to sixteen feet in length once fully deployed. Overall, the semi-humanoid figure was also wearing a yellow kimono that covered his feet.

''**A tengu...**'' Black Zetsu muttered in awe and wonder as he looked at the creature. The tengu were a sort of semi-humanoid mythical bird that was only seen or heard in old legends. They were so rare and powerful that everyone think of them as a myth. Seeing one of them alive and in front of them was surprising. Even himself believed them to be fake... till now that is. Not only do they exist but they are a type of summon. How crazy could it get?

''Naruto my boy!'' The tengu said with surprise and mischievousness. Immediately seeing his summoner's face, he quickly understood something grave had happened.

''Sojobo. I am sorry but I am not here for small talk. Do you remember when I told you about my friend Kaede who suddenly went missing?'' Naruto said and he received a nod from the tengu.

'What the hell is happening?!' White Zetsu thought wide eyed. 'Sojobo, the mythical king of the tengu? How can he not even be exhausted after summoning the boss of the contract!? Summoning the boss of a contract require a very large amount of chakra, yet, he is not even tired. That and he is merely an eleven years old kid... Just how strong is he going to become?'

''You mean that you found her?'' Sojobo responded with a frown and Naruto nodded.

''I need your help in killing everyone that may escape.'' Naruto said as his chakra once again flared.

''Why do you need my help for that? You can more than enough take care of this.'' Sojobo said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

''Maybe but I dont want to take any chance. That's the second time Kusa has taken someone from me. Enough is enough, I'm going full out.''

''Alright then.'' The tengu said with a wide smirk before disappearing from his view.

''Same for you two.'' Naruto told the two zetsus. They nodded and also disappeared.

Upon entering the cavern, he ran down a big number of stairs that went very deep. A minute later when the stairs ended, two guards were waiting for him beside a metal door. With a burst of speed, Naruto appeared in front of the first and tried to behead him with one of his katana but his enemy saw it coming and lowered to dodge the swing. The guard gasp in surprise as he cough blood. Looking down, he saw a katana embedded in his chest.

''You bastard!'' The other said but before he could do anything, a big crimson-dark hand took a hold of him. Trying to free himself, he quickly realised he couldn't, he didn't have the necessary strength or means for it. Looking at the source of it, he saw that it was coming from a big semi-humanoid figure and in that stood someone.

''Wh-what do you want?'' The shinobi said but stopped when he noticed something. ''How old are you?'' He asked surprised once he noticed his enemy was barely over eleven years old. He told the... kid?

''The girl, where is she?'' Naruto said without any sort of expression on his face.

''So thats why you came eh?'' The man said with some amusement in his eyes. Kid or not, he will not tell him anything. He is a kusa shinobi through and through after all. His eyes widened when the hand tightened.

''You seem to know what I am talking about so you will answer my question. Where is she?'' Naruto said with narrowed eyes as he gazed at the man.

''I dont know who the fuck you think you are but I will never tell you.'' The man said with a sneer.

''I do not have time for this.'' Naruto said. ''**Tsukuyomi**.''

A moment later the sneer of the man disappeared and his face switched to a blank expression. Crushing the man in a shower of blood and gore, Naruto continued to advance, unbothered by all the blood.

''I'm coming, Kaede.'' Naruto murmured as he felt a lump forming in his throat.

What he had learned from the man was something he wished he hadn't. Their scientists has found where the origin of her power emanated from and they theorized that if they were able to extract that piece of flesh from her, they would be able to recreate it. They had recently succeed in approaching her and they had injected her a drug to put her in a coma. Her operation was settled to begin very soon, or it was already in progress.

What scared him the most is that the origin of her power come from somewhere in her brain. Removing that piece from her brain would definitively kill her. He had to succeed in rescuing her before the operation could begin or she would die.

Smashing through the wall with his Susanoo, he saw five shinobis looking at him in surprised. Not wasting anytime, he swiftly killed them. Seeing two paths in front of him, he cursed before he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they had a purple ripple pattern in them and a huge surge of power went through his body.

'_I can't handle its power yet, I have to do fast._' Naruto thought as he activated his chakra vision. He looked at every person in the facility before he noticed five people with low chakra reserve, most likely their scientists, gathered around something. Gritting his teeth, he saw them about to start the operation. Switching off his rinnegan, his susanoo evolved. Two long horns appeared on its head and his shoulders became covered in plating and the beginning of a battle kimono could be seen on his upper body. Last but not the least, a bow now stood in his left hand.

Aiming a bit off of where the scientists are, an arrow of chakra appeared and Naruto drew it back a bit before he let it go. The arrow delved deep into the earth and a few seconds later, an explosion shook the whole complex. Seeing the way was clear, he ran in the tunnel made by his arrow. Before he could make a few steps in it, someone appeared in front of him, nlocking the way to Kaede.

''Well, hello there young man... or kid?'' A six feet tall man with a muscular build said. On top of his head was a bandana with the symbol of Kusa. He has short black hair but what surprised Naruto was the hat he wore. It was a kage's hat and the symbol of grass was on it. ''May I inquire why you have broken into our... secret laboratory?''

Instead of giving him an answer, Naruto reload his bow and fired one of them at him. The arrow hit the spot where the kusa shinobi was Naruto knew it was far from over. If he wanted to save Kaede then he will have to go full power very soon.

''You don't speak much, do you?'' A voice said from behind him.

''I simply don't have time.'' Naruto coldly said as he turned around and his rinnegan came back. ''That and you underestimated me.''

''**Shinra Tensei**.''

The kage watched wide eyed as he was sent back by an invisible force. The force of it sent him crashing through the air till the earth stopped his flight. Knowing it was finished, Naruto turned around and was about to head to where Kaede was when he sensed a burst of chakra from behind him.

''Fool... I am not a kage for nothing. I agree that your technique took me by surprise but you are merely a kid. I did not underestimated you, you underestimated me.'' He said and disappeared. A second later, the kage appeared in front of him and his fist collided with his susanoo. Surprised at the speed of the kage, Naruto jumped backward and went through some hand seals.

Frowning at how his punch didn't even went through Naruto's Susanoo, the kage went through some hand seals.

''**Earth Release:** **Earth Dragon!**'' The Kusa kage yelled as an earth dragon rose from the ground and moved toward Naruto.

''**Water Release: Gunshot!**'' Naruto yelled as he spit out a condensed ball of water.

The two attacks collided and a large screen of smoke covered almost the entire length of the tunnel. Sensing multiple targets coming toward him, Naruto turned off his rinnegan.

''**Kage Bunshin!**'' Ten puff of smoke appeared and revealed ten copies of Naruto. ''Kill everyone who tries to step in.''

Receiving nods from his clones, they disappeared and he saw that the smoke was starting to go away. A moment later, he saw the kage standing in the same spot. Cursing how much longer it was taking, he started going through hand seals again when something surprised him. While Naruto was unharmed, his enemy was not. He had a hole going through his body where his bowels were.

''Eh... seem like I was the one who underestimated you...'' He said before he fell backward. '_The water gunshot was overpowered, it was easily an S-class technique just because of how much chakra he poured in it... What kind of monster is that kid..._' He thought before Death claimed him.

Not even sparing his more than a glance, Naruto turned around and ran to where Kaede is. Halfway there, he fell to his knees and cough blood.

'_Damnit, I used the rinnegan too much... My body is still not used to that kind of power._' Naruto thought bitterly before he urged his body to get up. With great difficulty, he was able to do it but he had to ignore the pain.

A minute later, he arrived in the room where Kaede is and he noticed that the lack of scientists must mean that they have fled earlier. Before he could take another step, the pain in his chest intensified and he fell to his knees. He tried to get up but he found that the pain made him unable to. Still not willing to give up, he limped toward the operation table. When he was beside it, he forced his body to stand and he found Kaede asleep in a hospital gown. She had grown since he last saw her. Most noticeably was her hair, they had grown to reach her waist.

He immediately put his head on her chest to see if her heart was still beating. He needed to know. She was the last one that he considered as a true friend. She... couldn't die. What would he do if she were to die? That was a question that he feared and didn't want to answer. Channeling chakra to his ears, he tried to find a heart beat.

He heard none.

''No no no no no no no!'' Naruto said as he started to feel numb from the realisation that she might already be dead. He got up and put his hands on her chest and tried to reanimate her. ''You can't leave me! No, you can't leave me like Rito did! Please, come back!'' Naruto said as he started to yell.

No matter what happened, he could not accept that his only friend was dead. After a minute of relentlessly trying to reanimate her, his brain slowly started to comprehend the situation. His eyes progressively started to get wider as time passed. His body started trembling in despair and a moment later, his legs and arms stopped working.

'_Why did this have to happen? Why does life have to be cursed with so much violence and conflicts? Why... am I the only one suffering? Why nobody can understand me? Why do I have to be so... alone?_' Naruto thought as he felt himself growing more bitter than ever before. If happiness didn't exist... then he will make a world where dreams can be real. This reality... is nothing more than a cruel one.

As his thoughts kept getting darker and darker, he didn't noticed his eyes switching to the rinnegan. He also didn't noticed his power getting higher till it stopped. A huge wave of dark and potent chakra could be felt from miles all around.

'_Kaede could have been alive if I had learned the more advanced techniques of the rinnegan, she could have been alive if I was stronger._' Naruto thought and suddenly his chakra rose to a new level. '_If it wasn't for that Kusa Kage that slowed me down... Kaede would have lived. Curse him!_'

''Ugh... Where I am?'' A feminine voice near him said. Hearing that voice, Naruto's body went rigid in disbelief. Slowly turning his head to see who talked, his eyes went wide when he saw Kaede alive sitting on the table.

''Naruto?'' Kaede said getting him out of his thoughts. Blinking a few times he saw Kaede looking at him as if she was wishing he was there. Like she was waiting for an answer to confirm if he was really there.

Not even waiting a second more, he engulfed her in a hug. It surprised her but she returned the gesture a moment later.

''I searched for you everywhere these past years.'' Naruto said as tears started to go down his cheeks. Hearing those words, Kaede was beyond happy to know that her only friend didn't abandoned her. ''I'm so happy to have found you at last...''

''Same here...'' Kaede said as she tightened the hug as tears also started to fall down her cheeks.

No words could express how happy they both were in each other's arms. They simply felt at peace with each other. They stayed like that in silence for a good five minutes, relishing in the feeling of being with each other after being separated for so long.

The silence was broken when an inhuman scream was heard in the complex and it snapped them out of their thoughts. Feeling the source of the scream coming toward him, Naruto moved in front of Kaede and was taken aback when the... _thing_, entered the room.

The _thing_ was a monster that many would have thought it came out of Yomi. The bipedal monster that stood in front of him had no clothes or whatever. It was simply covered by its own flesh. What surprised him thought was that it had no hair, eyes or ears. His jaws was cut in two in some sort of mandibles and it had a hole where his intestines were.

'_**Naruto, that thing will not attack you.**_'

'_Kaguya?_' Naruto thought surprised. '_How can you talked to me? I thought I had to be near the Juubi's husk to talk to you?_'

'_**Yes but black Zetsu found a way for us to talk at anytime, I forgot to tell you earlier. Sometime in the last year, me and black Zetsu tried something and it worked perfectly. By injecting a minuscule fragment of the Juubi's husk in you, you absorbed it and that way you are near my power stored in the Juubi's husk. You could say that it made a permanent link.**_'

'_That's good, the plan will go much more faster. Anyways, what do you mean it won't attack me?_' Naruto asked with a frown as he looked at the monster in front of him.

'_**Do you remember when I told you that I unintentionally created the Juubi to get my chakra back?**_'

'_You mean..._' Naruto responded as he progressively understood what happened.

'_**Yes, you created it with your will. Your hate toward the Kusa Kage was so great that your chakra reached out to him and you transformed him in a monster. It wont attack you because it knows that you are its creator and it will follow everything you will tell him.**_' She said with some amusement.

''I see...'' Naruto muttered with a sigh before a small smile appeared on his lips.

''Hey...'' Kaede nervously said looking at the creature from above Naruto's right shoulder. ''That thing look like the leader of that complex... you think it's him?''

''Yes, it's him.'' Naruto told her before turning to face her. ''Before anything, I need to tell you what happened these past years because a lot of things happened since you disappeared.''

* * *

**Finally finished... Hope you liked Naruto and Kaede's reunion along with the Tengu contract and the ending about the monster :)**

**I wont make the AN long, I need ideas for Naruto's special ability(ies) about his mangekyo sharingan. Obito = kamui, shisui = kotoamatsukami and so on... I have an idea but it would be even more awesome if you guys had ideas. That and I need an idea for the monster's name. I am leaning toward the name Creep but if someone have a better idea then I will take it :)**

**To the next time and let's hope the update won't take as long as that one did! It may take long but I WILL finish the story, I have everything planned till the end.**

**Cya and thank you for following and reviewing!**


	5. Life Continue

**Bet you didn't see it coming eh? Good reading! :)**

* * *

**Eight Years Later**

''Three years have already gone by...'' A blond-haired man said looking out of the window of his office. This man is Minato Namikaze, the current Hokage. Nine years had already gone by since his elder's death and three years since his daughter and son went on a training trip with Jiraiya.

Ever since Itachi and Kisame attempted to kidnap Natsumi and Menma in an hotel on the way to bring back Tsunade to the village. The need to train them against Akatsuki was now higher than ever. Akatsuki is a group of S-class missing-nin that are collecting the Bijuus for an unknown purpose. All they knew about that organisation is that it is composed of eleven S-class missing-nin and that Itachi Uchiha, Kisame Hoshigaki are a part of it. Orochimaru was once a part of it but he defected to continue his own goals. That and with Jiraiya's spy network they were informed that they were going to move in three years. They didn't know for what reason but they had three years to prepare Natsumi and Menma for them.

Natsumi and Menma changed a bit since Sasuke left the village to join Orochimaru to get revenge on his brother for slaughtering the Uchiha clan. He knew the real reason behind the Uchiha massacre and as much it pained him, he couldn't tell the truth to Sasuke. That was what Itachi wanted and he deeply respected him for what he had done that horrible night. No man would want to do something like that but Itachi did it for the sake of the village. He had tried to stop the Uchihas from doing their coup d'état but he failed and that led to the massacre.

Sasuke changed a lot since the massacre. He was a good friend of Natsumi and Menma before it but after the massacre, he took his distance. It really reminded him of his elder. Both saw horrible things and they changed because of these things. He had seen what happened to Naruto and he was not going to let it happen if he could stop it. Unfortunately, the young Uchiha was obsessed with getting revenge and it did nothing to help him. They tried to invite him to parties, to training sessions with Natsumi and Menma and so much other things... They literally tried everything they could to save him but all he cared was training to get revenge on his brother and nothing more.

Then came the formation of the teams. With the number of ninjas of that year, they had to make a team of six instead of a team of four. Two jounins for four genins. He put Sasuke with Natsumi, Menma and Sakura Haruno, someone who comes from a civilian family, and they had a team specialised in fighting on the front lines. His wife Kushina and student Kakashi were choosen to lead the team. Kakashi was going to train Sasuke considering his connection with the sharingan and Menma because he is a taijutsu-ninjutsu specialist. Kushina would then train Sakura to get out her fangirl attitude to bring out her 'inner force'. Lastly, Natsumi would have an advantage by being trained by her mother because she literally is a mini-Kushina. Red hair? Check. Kenjutsu and Fuinjutsu specialist? Check. Same attitude? Only when she get excited or nervous. The only thing that she had inherited was his blue eyes and his way of thinking. While Natsumi is more calm and reserved, Menma is the opposite. He is loud and always excited.

After that, Kushina and Kakashi made a test where they had to work in a team to get the three bells from Kakashi. Even though only Natsumi and Menma found the meaning of the test, the whole team was passed. Then came the famous D-rank missions. They did a lot of them till Menma barged in his office demanding a C-class mission. A smile appeared on his face at that memory. Menma definitively got that attitude from his wife when she was younger. They talked about it then decided that they could take a C-class mission.

The mission was fairly simple, protect a bridge builder named Tazuna from bandits while he build his bridge. Unfortunately, that C-class mission turned in a A-class one when Momochi Zabuza, a A-rank missing-nin and one of the seven swordsmen from Kiri confronted them. With Kakashi and Kushina's skills, they quickly defeated him but a fake hunter-nin appeared and disappeared with the body. It was only a week later when they met him again on the bridge with another missing-nin, Raiga Kurosuki, another one of the seven swordsmen of Kirikagure. Kushina fought against Zabuza and Kakashi against Raiga. Meanwhile, Natsumi, Menma and Sasuke fought against the hunter-nin. They were overpowered by him and if it wasn't for the boost of power the Kyuubi gave to Menma, they would be dead. The hunter-nin later sacrificed himself to save Zabuza when Kushina was going to kill him with her sword. A minute later, Kakashi killed Raiga with his chidori and Zabuza was quickly dealt with. Before they could deal the final blow, Gato, the one who hired Zabauza to kill Tazuna, decided that paying a shinobi cost too much and that was the end for him. Natsumi then told Zabuza that his partner sacrificed his life so that he could live. She didn't understood how heartless he could be. Life needs to be lived to the fullest. If you hesitate to do something then you might regret it for the rest of your life. She compared Zabuza to her elder brother, someone she wished she had known. Both look like each other so much that it pained her. When asked what they could have in common, she answered that both saw horrible things that changed their life, both had to kill their best friend and that both grew bitter to life after these things.

Natsumi always had a sort of fascination for Naruto. She often asked questions about him, how he was, what changed him... why he wasn't here anymore. Menma never really asked questions about him but each time someone was talking about him, he was always closely listening. They barely remember him, they were quite young when Naruto died. Natsumi often talk about a moment that she remembers when Naruto went downstairs only to meet their mother. She had asked him how he was and where he was going but Naruto ignored her. She remembers being at the top of the stairs staring at him. That was the last time she saw him.

After the C-class mission turned to A-class, the chunin exams was held in Konoha. Being a team of four instead of three caused some problems but with some new rules for them it was solved. The first part went well other than Menma not finding a way to cheat to get the answers. The second part was a bit tricky and if he was honest with himself, it frightened him that Orochimaru was able to infiltrate the exams and directly attack them. Not much damage was done apart from the fact that Orochimaru put a cursed mark on Sasuke. The third part consisted of preliminary matches because too many made it to the third part. All of them succeed other than Sakura, whose fight ended in a tie against Ino, were able to advance to the last part. The final part was held in a month and it gave them time to prepare against their next opponent. During that time, Kakashi trained Sasuke and Jiraiya trained Natsumi and Menma. It still surprise him that the toads accepted to have four summoners. After that, the final part was held and people from all over the fire country came to see it. Menma won against Neji but not before giving him a lesson that fate doesn't control everything. Sasuke was against Gaara and Kakashi actually made it on time. Kushina threatened him that if he was one minute late, she would burn his entire collection of Icha-Icha. Not needing to be told twice, he was there before the match started.

It was during this fight that an invasion was launched by Orochimaru, who was disguised as the Kazekage. His target wasn't him, it was Sarutobi. He would have joined the fight with him if it wasn't for the purple barrier that four enemy ninjas made. He cursed that moment that he didn't have an hiraishin mark on Hiruzen. If he had, he might have saved him. When Orochimaru resurrected the first two Hokage, he knew that Hiruzen was going to die. Not wanting to do nothing, he helped in driving off the invasion but when he came back to the barrier, he saw Hiruzen sealing the past Hokages with the Shiki Fujin. Sarutobi tried to seal Orochimaru too but he wasn't able to, his old age was getting to him. He was able to seal his arms though. After that, Orochimaru fled and he wasn't able to prevent him from escaping.

Meanwhile, Natsumi, Menma and Sasuke were pursuing Gaara who was slowly starting to transform in his Bijuu. With their skills, they were able to stop him but Sasuke was out of the fight early and when he saw the twins defeating Gaara, he grew angry. Angry that he didn't have the power to kill his brother. Menma was able to convince Gaara that killing people isn't the solution to get stronger. He told Gaara that he became stronger because he wants to protect those precious to him. He don't want to see them get hurt or worse, die. His need to protect his precious people is the reason he and his twin are strong. Because of that, Gaara slowly changed from someone who kills people to someone who wants to help people.

After the funeral of the Third Hokage were held, he made a decision. Tsunade had to return to the village permanently, the village needed her skills as a medic and she had enough time to get over her grief. Natsumi, Menma and Jiraiya were then sent to get her back. It was also on the way that they met two members of Akatsuki, Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki. Fortunately for them, Jiraiya arrived in time but the two Akatsuki members were able to flee.

They later found Tsunade at Tanzaku town. Unfortunately for them, Orochimaru had contacted her earlier to heal his arms. In exchange of doing it, he would resurrect Dan and Nawaki so that she could talk to them. She seemed to have accepted but it was false. A fight later ensued opposing the three sannins. Orochimaru then had to retreat because he was defeated. It was at that moment that Natsumi showed her talent of convincing people. She talked about how Dan and Nawaki would not like to see her right now. What they saw in her was a strong woman, not one who abandoned. She told Natsumi she didn't know what she was speaking about but Natsumi denied this claiming that she was sure that if her brother was still alive, he would not like to see her give up in front of every obstacles. He had a much harder life than she had yet he always continued. A day later, Tsunade came back to the village.

Not even a week after coming back to the village, Sasuke defected and a team was sent to bring him back. They were held back by a team of four sound ninjas named the sound four as they continued to go toward Orochimaru's hideout. Each member of the team was held back by one member of the sound four so only Menma was able to reach Sasuke. A battle followed and Menma was unable to bring his best friend back to the village.

A few days after that, it was decided that Natsumi and Menma were going on a three years training trip with Jiraiya to prepare them for Akatsuki.

'_Thinking about that, they should be back today._' Minato thought with a smile.

* * *

''How boring can it get? We get promoted to chunin and the only thing we do is guarding the gates. Heard some people calling us the 'eternal chunins'.'' Kotetsu said as he laid back in his chair while letting out a sigh.

''Yeah and Hokage-sama could have pick someone else for it. Seriously... At least the twins and Jiraiya-sama are coming back today from what I heard.'' His partner Izumo said.

''Really? This day won't be as boring as I thought then!'' Kotetsu said with a smile.

''Yeah, those two really grew up since they became genins. Who knows, maybe they will become famous like the sannins.'' Izumo replied with a chuckle. ''Huh? You see that?'' He said looking out on the path leading outside of the village.

''Hmm?'' Straightening his posture, he looked at where his partner was looking at. Seeing who it was, he chuckled. ''Talk about the devils.''

Coming toward the gates are three figures. One of them was Jiraiya-sama but it was the other two that underwent the most changes.

The first one is a tall girl with a slender, but feminine build, blue eyes, smooth red hair tied up in a low ponytail reaching down a bit past her shoulders with strands framing the sides of her face. Her attire consist of a standard Konoha flack jacket over a black long-sleeved shirt and black form-fitting pants that reach her ankles. Last but not the least is a katana strapped to her back that her mother gifted her and she is wearing a red forehead protector. Her name is Natsumi Namikaze.

The one beside her is her brother. He is a tall boy with a normal but powerful build, blue eyes, short blond spiky hair. His attire consist of a gray steel breastplate with shoulder guards, gray arm guards, faulds covering his upper legs over a black jumpsuit tied in the middle by a crimson obi. He also has a black forehead protector.

''Alright wait a bit kids, I need to sign some papers.'' Jiraiya said as he approached the two guards.

''Welcome back Jiraiya-sama.'' Kotetsu said with a smile.

''Hope the training trip was worth it.'' Izumo said.

''Oh yes you can be sure of that.'' Jiraiya said with a wide smile as he signed some papers. ''By how much stronger they became you can't really compare them to the ones they were before.''

''Happy about that then. Have a good day!'' Izumo replied and Kotetsu nodded.

''Same to you.'' Jiraiya replied as he and the twins continue to advance through the village.

''I feel so nostalgic...'' Natsumi said with a light smile as she looked at the village. ''So much changed during the years we were gone.''

Jiraiya nodded with a smile as he looked at some shops that weren't there before. Maybe he could try some of the new things when he has the time?

''At least the Ichiraku ramen is always there!'' Menma cheerfully commented and started to walk toward it.

''Hold on a second.'' Jiraiya said as he took a hold of Menma's left shoulder. ''I'm sure your father wants to see us first.''

''I can't believe he is still obsessed with ramen.'' Natsumi murmured with a sweatdrop. Out of everyone in her family, only herself and her father weren't obsessed with ramen.

''Menma, Natsumi?'' Someone behind them said and they turned to see who it was.

''Shikamaru? Temari?'' Natsumi said with recognition flashing across her eyes. ''Kami you changed!'' She said with a big smile.

''Uh? Temari? Who is that? That's the girl right?'' Menma said with an innocent expression.

''Yes, that's me.'' Temari said with a forced smile. Seeing this, Shikamaru backed a bit away from her. '_If you weren't the Hokage's son I would have beaten you into a pulp!_'

'_Troublesome Menma, why do you have to be so damn innocent?_' Shikamaru thought with a sweatdrop as he looked at the seething Temari.

''I'm so sorry...'' Natsumi murmured with a nervous smile at Temari who sighed and shrugged.

''Let's just forget it.'' Temari said as she pinched her nose in annoyance.

''So, what are you doing here?'' Natsumi asked her.

''I was choosen as Suna's ambassador. That lazy guy beside me is charged in escorting me.''

''So... Are you two on a date!'' Menma said with a goofy smile.

''No, we are not dating. It would be too much troublesome.'' Shikamaru said with a sigh.

'_I swear one day I'm going to kill him._' Temari thought gritting her teeth in annoyance. Seeing this, Natsumi took Menma and Jiraiya's arm.

''See you another time!'' She nervously said and proceed to drag both of them to the Hokage tower. For the passerby, it was rather funny to see the legendary Jiraiya being dragged by the daughter of their Hokage.

* * *

''Enter!'' Minato said as he decided to take break from the paperwork. When the door opened, it revealed his daughter. ''Natsumi! You really have grown!'' He commented with a smile at seeing his daughter after three years.

''Hello dad, how are you? Not too much paperwork I hope?'' She said with a big smile as she hugged him.

''These three years were quite calm.'' Minato replied as he broke the hug before noticing something. ''Menma and Jiraiya-sensei aren't with you?''

''Oh, about that...'' She replied with a nervous smile. A second later a knock was heard from the window behind him.

''I see...'' Minato said with a sigh as he opened the window. A moment later Jiraiya and Menma entered through the window.

''Been quite some time eh?'' Jiraiya said as he smiled at Minato.

''Indeed.'' Minato replied before looking at Menma. '' Seem like Natsumi wasn't the only one to have grown up.''

''Yeah, I'm happy to see you too dad. You are starting to get old, I think I see some white strands!'' Menma said with an enormous smile. Jiraiya couldn't help let out a loud laugh.

''Idiot!'' Natsumi embarrassingly shouted at her twin.

''It's okay Natsumi, I know he was only joking.'' Minato replied while chuckling in amusement. ''Though Menma, if you want that much that hat then you will need to get stronger.''

''I think he might become Hokage sooner than you can think of.'' Jiraiya suddenly said.

''Really?'' Minato said with a small gasp. ''How much stronger did they get?''

''Alone they are jounin level but if they work together, they can go against a low S-class ninja and win.''

''That much?'' Minato said raising his eyebrows in surprise.

''Yep. Working together is definitively their strength.'' Jiraiya replied with a smile.

''Hmm, I already had someone to evaluate their skills but if what you tell me is true then I might need to add someone else.'' Minato said crossing his arms over his chest. A moment later, an idea struck his head. ''There is two people that haven't done many missions for a while. They will be perfect.''

''Who will they be?'' Natsumi wondered out loud. A knock was heard on the door and when it opened, it revealed Kakashi reading his book.

''Kakashi-sensei? You're the one who will test us?'' Menma said with a smile at seeing one of his sensei.

''Long time no see, Kakashi-sensei.'' Natsumi commented but frowned a bit when she saw that Kakashi is still reading his porn books. These books were the bane of every woman and for the men, it was one of the greatest treasures found.

''Hmm? Oh, Menma, Natsumi. You have grown, I almost didn't recognized you.'' Kakashi said with an eye smile. ''Yes, things have been a bit boring since you left the village to go on your training trip and to answer Menma's question, yes I will be the one to test you.''

''About that Kakashi, they are stronger than I thought so there will be someone else to test them along with you.'' Minato said in amusement.

''Really? Who is it then?'' Kakashi said interested.

''Gai.'' A silence spread through the room as everyone looked at Kakashi. After a few seconds, he let out a long sigh.

''If it can get him out of my back for a while then why not.''

''What do you mean?'' Natsumi asked.

''Gai is waiting for his team to come back from a mission and he is incredibly bored. Meaning that during that month he relentlessly tried to get me to participate in his... workouts.'' Everyone shivered at that. ''Anyways, Minato-sensei, are you sure about that? I mean, Natsumi and Menma might be strong but me and Gai together can take out a Kage by working together.''

''Yes, I am sure.'' Minato said as he nodded. ''The reason I chose him is because you two are just like Natsumi and Menma. You complete each other when working together so they will be hard pressed against you two. It won't be impossible but it will be hard.''

''Mom is not here?'' Natsumi asked her father.

''She is on a mission, she will be back in a few days.'' Minato said with a apologetic look. That was quite unfortunate that their children were coming back from a three years trip and that the day they are back, she is not there to welcome them back.

''Back to the subject, when and where is the test?'' Menma asked excited to test the skills he got during the three years trip.

''In one hour on the third training ground. Kakashi, go and fetch Gai.'' Minato said and Kakashi disappeared with a shunshin to look for his... eternal rival. Menma and Natsumi soon followed to prepare themselves.

* * *

Two figures were seen walking through the desert. One is a tall black haired man, his hair was previously red but he had to put a powerful henge on them to not attract attention on himself and the other is a tall red haired woman. They are both wearing the traditional Akatsuki outfit with the conical hat.

''Look like they were waiting for us.'' Kaede said as they noticed many corpses near the gate leading to Suna. ''Jiraiya might have warned them about Akatsuki. He has a wide spy network after all.''

''Yes and my spy did a wonderful job.'' Naruto said as he looked at the carnage. Looking at all the blood, he wondered if he made the bloodlust seal a bit too strong. The slaughter was rivaling one of Kaede's own and that is something considering how violent and ruthless she can get.

''Your skills in Fuijutsu never cease to impress me.'' She replied in amusement. ''People are idiots in dismissing such a versatile art.''

''Indeed.'' Naruto replied as a moment later they reached the gate. ''Hello Yura, mission complete, end of function.''

''Yes, Yurei-sama!'' Yuura replied before taking a kunai. Before he could commit suicide, he was bisected and behead. A silence fell before they took the narrow passage leading to the village.

''Really?'' Naruto said with a sigh after a moment.

''He was starting to annoy me and I heard that Sasori-san is not a patient one. The faster we bring him the jinchuriki, the better it is.'' She answered him.

''Everyone annoy you and Sasori can easily wait.'' Naruto replied with a tint of amusement.

''You or Kaguya don't annoy me.'' Kaede said with a very small smile.

''That is because I have known you for a very long time and Kaguya is like a great-aunt to you.''

''That's normal considering you are a descendant of her big sister. You know, she sees you like her niece.''

''I know.'' She said with a chuckle. ''Each time I speak with her in your mind, she continuously tells me that.''

''Alright, now to locate the jinchuuriki is.'' Naruto said as they finally reached the village.

''I am going to wait here.'' Kaede said.

''Alright, I should be over pretty fast anyways if there is no complications.'' Naruto said as he used the flight technique to fly high over the village. A moment later, Kaede was barely able to see him.

''Just don't be an idiot.'' She murmured to herself worried about him.

* * *

''There is no one here yet.'' Natsumi said as she and Menma reached the third training ground. Nothing seemed to have change as she looked at the training ground. Even the three posts were still there.

''Things haven't changed.'' Menma commented with a small smile.

''Natsumi? Menma?'' A voice said from behind them. Looking at who was talking, they were surprised at seeing Sakura.

''Kami you changed so much!'' Sakura said with a big smile as she looked at them.

''Same for you!'' Natsumi commented at seeing her friend and Menma nodded.

''So, why are you here? You are here to pass the test with us?'' Menma said.

''Yep.'' Sakura responded with a wide smile. ''You aren't the only ones who trained during these last years you know? I trained under Tsunade-sama, I will not fall behind you two.'' She said with determination in her eyes.

''As if I will lose to you!'' Menma said back at her with conviction.

''Oh I forgot!'' Sakura said with a gasp. ''Have you heard about Gaara?''

''Something happened to him?'' Menma asked with a frown worried about his friend.

''Nothing bad happened. Did you know that he became Kazekage?''

''Really?'' Menma replied surprised.

''Yes and that is not the only thing. Everyone became chunin while you were away.'' At that she looked at the floor. ''Neji also made it to Jonin.''

''So we are the only who still are genins uh?'' Natsumi said a bit sad.

''Bah, it's nothing. Rank means nothing after all.'' Menma said with a wide smile.

''I guess you're right.'' Natsumi said a bit more happy by what her brother said.

''Looks like everyone is already here.'' Kakashi commented as he appeared with a shunshin with Gai beside him.

''I don't see dad or-ok no nevermind.'' Natsumi said as she sensed multiple chakras appear. Looking at the sources, she saw that her dad, Ero-sennin, Tsunade-sama and Shizune-nee were there to watch the test.

''Don't think we are going to miss that kids!'' Jiraiya shouted laughing. ''You have grown so much that I think you might be able to win if you all work together.''

''I'm curious about how much stronger they became?'' Tsunade commented to herself. Shizune beside her couldn't help but agree.

''Alright!'' Minato shouted. ''Are you both ready?''

''Let's show them the flames of youth Kakashi!'' Gai yelled with a passion in his eyes.

''Hmm? You said something Gai?'' Kakashi innocently replied.

''Damn your hip attitude!'' Gai yelled back.

''Alright, everyone is ready. START!''

* * *

As he continued to fly over the village, Naruto decided to land on a building. He knew exactly where the jinchuuriki was so there was no point in flying more.

''Akatsuki.'' A voice said from behind him. Turning around, he was greeted by the Kazekage.

''You seems to know who I am.'' Naruto smiled at him. ''My name is Yurei, a pleasure to meet you. What is yours?''

The response he got was sand flying at him.

* * *

**I guess that's what they call the calm before the storm. That was mostly a filler chapter so forgive me if you wanted more action but it will be there next chapter. I thought about publishing it when the two fights would be done but I decided to cut it there to make three chapters for the Kazekage Rescue Arc. Naruto and Kaede are going to stay mysterious for most of the story so don't worry about them revealing who they are in that arc. It wont happen till some time. About that... that's pretty much it :) 8 communities, 658 favs, 708 follows and 132 reviews, you guys are awesome! Thank you for your support! :)**

**Follow, Favorite and Review!**

**Thank you! :)**


	6. Fear

**Been a while uh, started a new story a few days ago. 3 days ago. 1k words per day as promised. This chapter is 3.5k long. May be short but I didn't felt the need to expand more, there is everything I needed in there for that part. It's 1AM, just finished correcting this chapter. Good thing I did, lots of simple mistakes corrected. Also added even more badassness at some points in it :P**

**Ages: Naruto and Itachi: 21**

** Kakashi and Gai: 29**

** Sasuke,Menma, Natsumi and co.: 15-16**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Avoiding the sand thrown his way, Naruto chuckled in amusement at how fast things had turned out. Not even a second and a blast of sand threw him out of the roof and flying in the streets of the village below. They definitively knew about Akatsuki if the Kazekage's reaction was anything to go by. By now, most of the village was awake and trying or not depending on who, to help their leader to fight the mysterious Akatsuki member. It had been going on for a while and it seemed that neither of the fighters had the advantage. The Kazekage trying to catch the intruder while said intruder was avoiding every attempt.

'_He is good, worthy of a kage for his age that is..._' Naruto thought with a small smile. '_But not enough._'

He took a sharp turn and flew upward toward the sky. Dramatically increasing the speed of his fly, he went toward Gaara who showed slight surprise at the increased speed. Bringing both arms upward, massive amount of sand came from the village below to form a wall of sand between them. Making a few hand signs, Naruto inhaled a deep breath of air.

'_**Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!**_' Naruto thought and exhaled a massive fire dragon that went toward the sand wall that was slowly becoming a ball to trap him inside. '_**Fire Release: Great Flame Flower!**_' He thought and created multiple fireballs that went to intercept the sand trying to get him from behind.

Then the massive fire dragon made contact with the sand wall, transforming it in multiple pieces of glass that broke away with the explosion. Now that he could see the Kazekage, he saw his surprise and worry at the pieces of glass, some tiny and others quite big, going down toward the village below. Seeing that he was near the Kazekage enough, he took a deep breath of air for his next jutsu.

'_**Fire Release: Great Blaze Ball!**_' He stopped and exhaled a small fire orb toward the Kazekage. Seeing the orb, Gaara gritted his teeth and put massive amount of chakra to move the sand faster to protect the entire village as well as to protect him from that attack. No doubt it was very dangerous. Just when he completed his shield around himself, the orb reached his shield and blew up in a massive explosion.

* * *

''Whenever you are ready.'' Kakashi said uncovering his sharingan. Gai nodded beside him.

''You are using the sharingan uh? That's serious then.'' Natsumi said with a giggle.

''Alright let's do this!'' Menma said all pumped up.

Menma charged at Gai first as Sakura followed him. Natsumi went toward Kakashi to engage him with her katana as he took out two kunais to counter.

Swinging her blade forward vertically, he blocked and tried to deviate it but she had anticipated it by putting more pressure to her blade. Trying to overpower the other, Natsumi realized that he was slowly getting more and more ground so she backed away only to have him charge at her. Blocking all of his strikes, she eventually tried a sidekick but he blocked it with his arm. Using the momentum, she spinned and gave an even more powerful kick to his waist that connected.

''That hurt quite a bit.'' Kakashi commented with an eye smile. Natsumi gave him a big smile and engaged him again. But this time in ninjutsu. As she was near a pound of water, this was perfect.

''**Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!**'' Natsumi yelled surprising Kakashi at the high-level technique. A massive dragon made out of water rose out of water and Kakashi just finished his hand signs at the same time.

''**Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!**'' Kakashi said as the two jutsus collided with each other, creating a huge explosion of water.

Seeing Natsumi coming through the water thanks to his sharingan, he smiled at her ingenuity. Taking both of his trustie kunais, he moved to engage her once again.

* * *

''Gaara!'' Kankuro yelled in concern as a meteor sized sphere of fire appeared in the sky just where his younger brother was supposed to be. ''Damn it! Just what is happening?!''

''Kankuro!'' A voice said and he turned to see it was his sensei, Baki.

''Sensei? Just what is going on?'' He asked with concern.

''Akatsuki.'' Baki said with a deep frown. ''Seem they have finally started to move, just like Jiraiya-sama said. To attack a village like that, are they so arrogant to think they can succeed, or are they that powerful?''

''Akatsuki?! That means... that one fighting Gaara is one of them but... weren't they working in teams of two?'' Kankuro said with apprehension.

''Yes and that is why I need your help. The other one is at the North Gate, one of our ANBU members spotted her, we are preparing an assault.''

''If we can't help Gaara then let's do this.'' Kankuro said with determination and Baki nodded. They couldn't help Gaara now but if they could take down the other one then it will be that at least.

* * *

Menma and Sakura were doing good against Gai but they were loosing ground against him slowly. Gai was truly worthy of being the best taijutsu master in Konoha. Menma was swift in his punches and kicks while Sakura gave few but devastating hits. Even then, they were loosing grounds. Gai's punches and kicks were fast and powerful.

''Sakura!'' Menma said and she nodded in understanding as she put more chakra in her limbs and punches.

''Fire Release: Great Fireball!'' Menma yelled as he exhaled a big fireball toward Gai and Sakura, who jumped out of the way. Gai was surprised for a second but he also jumped out of the way. Seeing shurikens coated with wind chakra coming at him, he took some of his shurikens and charged each of them with chakra before throwing them to counter those heading his way. As he was going to come down, he saw Sakura coming at him.

Gai cursed as he flipped himself at the last moment. He had already received three of those punches and he didn't want to receive more than that. He kicked her hard between her shoulder blades, slamming her on the ground. When she touched the ground though, she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

'_A clone?_' Gai thought with concern. Then he felt it, he barely had the time to catch the punch from the real Sakura. His hands trembled under her strength. '_Tsunade-sama really didn't go half at it at teaching her this._' He thought through gritted teeth.

* * *

Watching the fight, Kaede let out a small chuckle. Typical Naruto... Making the Kazekage think that he has the advantage when he don't. Flying took a so tiny amount of his chakra that he could literally continue to fly for days. Ten minutes had passed since he had started to 'play' with the Kazekage. Naruto was sometimes to carefree when fighting. She was one of the only two people that could come close to his strength. As a result, he often reduced his overall strength in fights to become even stronger. She had no doubt that he was one of the, if not the strongest, shinobi currently alive. Even then, he wasn't arrogant like lot of people after they had too much power at their disposal. He knew his limits though.

She and Naruto made the perfect sensor team. His sensor range could go as far as ten miles and whatever came too close to them, she could feel it with her vectors. Her ten vectors had multiplied to a total of sixty while they could go up to eighty meters. They were deadly as Naruto said. Period.

A small frown appeared on her face as she was becoming more irritated by each minute that passed that an ANBU was spying on her just behind a small house. His skills at spying were deplorable, even thought she couldn't directly see him as he was behind her. She almost felt pity for him for being _just _in her range. One meter and he was out.

* * *

''I am not often impressed but for someone to block that attack while concentrating on protecting such a wide area... congratulations.'' Naruto said as he looked toward the half-dead and burned Kazekage on a small platform of his own sand as pieces of glass were falling apart all around him. ''Impressive yes, but you lost.''

He slowly floated toward the Kazekage but he had to dodge a tendril of sand at the last time.

''Still conscious?'' Naruto muttered with his eyebrows raised as he was not even ten feet from him. He had to give him credit, he was still conscious and willing to fight him in such a bad state.

''I... will never... give you Ichibi.'' Gaara said fighting to stay conscious.

That man... he is dangerous. _Very_ dangerous. He understood now. He thought that at the beginning he had an advantage, but he was wrong. Dead wrong. That man, Yurei, was simply toying with him like a jounin does with an academy student. After the pursuit of the beginning was done, he came to him directly and it didn't even took a minute before he lost.

''The fight is over... You were great, but I only used a fraction of my power against you. I thought you would have made a better opponent but I was mistaken it seems.'' Naruto said and appeared behind Gaara who stiffened for a moment sensing him behind him but before he could do anything, he was knocked out.

''Finally... Was getting boring at the end.'' Naruto murmured with a frown before he stretched his neck a bit. Taking a hold of him before the sand disappeared, he put the Kazekage on his right shoulder. After that, he drew a seal on him to put him in a deep state of sleep as well as another that immobilized him completely.

''Mission completed, Kaede is waiting now...'' Naruto murmured before looking to where she was. Seeing that she was fighting, he chuckled and went to join her.

* * *

''Alright, we will stop this here!'' Minato said as his voice was carried through the whole battlefield. A few seconds later, Menma, Sakura, Natsumi, Kakashi and Gai appeared via shunshins in front of them. ''Thank you for your assistance in this, Kakashi, Gai.''

''No problem! Hokage-sama! I enjoyed the spar!'' Gai said with his cool guy pose as Kakashi sweat dropped but nodded.

''So? How did we do?'' Menma asked with a wide smile.

''From what we saw, Sakura, you are at a A-class level along with Menma. As for Natsumi, you are probably low S-class. You nearly defeated Kakashi.'' Minato said with a smile. ''First, Sakura. I will not tell you what to get better at or what you did good, Tsunade-sama is there for that and she knows you the best. Second, Menma. Your taijutsu definitively increased, I would say high A-class while your ninjutsu would be A-class. Your speed is very good but you need to hit stronger. I can draw you some resistance or weight seals to help you for that. You do not specialized in Kenjutsu so we will pass that. Fuinjutsu, haven't seen you use one so I cannot say.''

''Alright! Thanks dad!'' Menma said with a fist in the air in excitement. The others chuckled at his excitement. Same old Menma.

''Natsumi, you are growing up fast. A bit too fast.'' Minato chuckled a bit. ''From what I have observed, you are now a low S-class and in a few months you will be ranked as a true S-class if you continue like that. Your near victory against Kakashi is a proof of that.''

''That's true, be proud of yourself.'' Kakashi said with an eye smile. ''I never expected you to push me so far. You really did good.''

''Thank you!'' Natsumi replied with a small blush of embarrassment at the praise.

''As I was saying, your kenjutsu is probably already S-class but your ninjutsu is near low S-class. Taijutsu, you are A-class. Fuinjutsu, well, I can say you are at the same level of me or maybe beyond?'' At that his smile increased. ''Speaking of which, how are you growing in power so fast? You are the same age of your brother yet, you are a lot stronger than him.''

Everyone listened even more from that point. Menma more than anyone as he often noticed his sister training at night sometimes during their training trip.

''My motivation you mean?'' Natsumi asked curiously and he nodded at her. She looked at the ground a bit sadly and he had an inkling as to why, but he wanted to hear it from her to be sure. ''I don't want to loose anyone again... After Naruto-nii-san... I don't want to loose someone ever again. I always wanted to know him, but I never did... And that is why I want to get stronger, I don't want something like that to ever happen again...''

A silence filled each of them as they all felt a bit saddened by what she said. Minato smiled at her, happy that someone would want to be strong for that reason.

''Alright, the test is over. Thank you all.'' Minato said and they all nodded and went their ways.

* * *

''Nothing new, eagle?'' Baki murmured as he and Kankuro joined the ANBU that informed them of the position of the other Akatsuki member. Shaking his head as a no, he nodded. Then he looked at person standing in front of them who was seemingly watching the...fight.

'_Gaara!_' Kankuro thought wide-eyed as he saw Gaara defeated. The sand in the sky was falling and the Akatsuki member was standing just in front of him. '_How..._'

''Are you going to stay hidden any longer... or do I have to get you out of there myself?'' An annoyed feminine voice said. She could stand their presences for a while but it became annoying after a point.

'_What... she detected our presences?_' Thought a surprised Kankuro whose thoughts were also mimicked by the other two. Looking at the others, they made hand signs to communicate and after a minute, they reached a conclusion. Baki and Kankuro got out of their hidden place while the ANBU went to get more reinforcements in case they might need it.

''Akatsuki...'' Kankuro said with a glare at Kaede who turned around to face them. They could see her pink hair and red eyes now. Seeing the glare, she giggled. ''What is so funny!?''

''Kankuro! Calm yourself!'' Baki sternly told him. If those Akatsuki members truly were S-class then they were not to be taken lightly and loosing control of your emotions is one of the worst ways. ''I know they attacked and injured Gaara but you need to calm down or we might not do it.''

Gritting his teeth, Kankuro nodded rather stiffly. He then took deep breaths to calm himself.

''Oh? Are you sure that you are a shinobi? Loosing control of his emotions like that, what a child. Still playing with makeup also I see...''

That did it, his anger doubled at how she lightly joked about his brother. He swiftly took his three scrolls on his back and opened them on the ground.

''Kankuro stop!''

''**Karasu! Kuroari! Sanshoue!**'' Kankuro said as he made a hand sign and three puppets appeared.

''I see... A puppeteer. Interesting, I always wanted to ask those people who fight like this a question.'' Kaede asked almost... too nicely. Even Kankuro was caught off guard by the change in her voice. He shook it off before he concentrated again.

''Ask then, before my puppets kill you. This will be your final request.'' Kankuro said with an anger barely controlled. Kaede giggled at his question and state of mind. Humans, so easily influenced.

''If I break your puppets... will you cry?''

''Wha-!'' Kankuro muttered before his three puppets were shreds to pieces in a single moment. ''What?!'' He said in disbelief.

'_What?!_' Baki thought wide eyed in disbelief. Just what happened?! '_We need reinforcements... and fast!_' He thought only now realising what they were fighting.

''You never answered my question... Will you start crying now...?'' Kaede asked tilting her head to the side as her eyes got a little bit larger. ''Does your makeup actually portray your emotional state... one of a child? Or do you need help to... fix that?''

Widening his eyes in horror, Kankuro took a step back. That woman, he didn't know why but he got this feeling of independent doom. An inescapable fate. Immense fear filled him. Baki wasn't faring better, he was trembling from fear. It wasn't normal. Everything had gone horribly wrong in a single instant.

''Do you need help, poor little birds without wings?'' Kaede asked sweetly as she started walking very, very slowly toward them. When she took a step forward, they took a step backward.

'_What is happening?! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!_' Baki almost yelled in his thoughts. Before he knew it, tears were starting to leak from his eyes, unfitting of a shinobi of his caliber. '_What is wrong here?! Why am I so scared?! What the hell is happening!?_'

'_What... is that?_' Kankuro thought horrified as he looked at the woman advancing toward them. '_My body... It's starting to tremble... WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING!?_'

Then they hit a wall. They watched horrified as she took another step, and another, and another. They didn't know why but each step made them even more frightened.

''Kankuro-sama, Baki-sama!'' They looked up and they were very relieved to see that Eagle had finally came back with nearly a full battalion of 300 hundreds ANBU. They unknowingly released a deep breath that they were holding.

''Alright people!'' Baki yelled in determination, his fear having disappeared. ''Let's do this! Throw every jutsu that you can!'' A chorus of 'yes' answered him. Having his puppets destroyed, Kankuro retreated a distance away to better observe and analyze.

'_What the hell was this?_' Kankuro thought with a deep frown as he thought about what had just happened. '_Why were we so scared? It doesn't make any sense! Right now looking at her... I feel nothing. How strange._'

''At my mark...'' Baki said as each ANBU made their hand signs. ''Fire!''

''**Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet!**''

''**Fire Release: Great Fireball!**''

''**Wind Release: Wind Dragon!**''

''Stupid humans.'' Kaede murmured with a sigh as all jutsus impact on her creating a gigantic smoke cloud.

''Did we get her?'' Baki murmured with anticipation.

When the cloud finally dissipated, they were in for a major shock. She wasn't alone anymore, her partner that was fighting Gaara was with her... and he had Gaara unconscious on top of his right shoulder.

''You got greedy or what?'' Naruto asked amused.

''No...'' Kaede replied with a sigh. ''They simply appeared to fight me, or you, if you want to finish them now that the mission is complete.'' She said eyeing the unconscious jinchuriki.

''Nah, go on.'' Naruto said shrugging indifferently.

''Alright then.'' Kaede said with a light smirk. ''Playtime is over.''

Chaos appeared everywhere. People were blowing up for seemingly no reason, others were dismembered. The buildings, as if being too old to stand, were getting destroyed and deep trenches were made. Explosions came out of nowhere, killing even more and doing more damage. Large chunks of rocks were thrown everywhere or destroyed. Then it was over in a matter of mere seconds.

Dead bodies everywhere. Not one member of the ANBU battalion survived. The place wouldn't be back to normal before a long time due to all the damage.

Smiling as she saw the two survivors on the ground barely conscious, Kaede decided to give them a gift.

''May you survive long enough for the reinforcements to come. Should your will falter, you will die. Should your will stay strong, you will survive longer. But you have maximum five days to survive. One minute being the minimum. Good luck.'' She turned away and Naruto followed her out of the village in direction of the Akatsuki hideout.

''Gaara...'' Kankuro said barely above his own breath as he watched his younger brother getting away from him. His vision then slowly got blurry and he eventually fell unconscious just like his sensei had succumbed to it seconds ago.

* * *

**Short chapter but you got to see a bit more of Kaede, hope she was creepy enough. About the numbers of vectors... yeah because why not lol. She is absolutely deadly at close range but everyone have a weakness, she is not invincible. Forgot to put a genge or mask on Naruto but guess I will do next chapter. For now his hat is covering him :P Apart from that... yeah. Didn't like the fighting scenes but I had to lol. Feel like Natsumi and Menma aren't really important now but they will be in the future. In the meantime I have to adapt... oh well Creep is coming next chapter! :P**

**Review, follow, favorites. That writing trinity that all Fanfictioners pray each chapter/story releashed!**


	7. Those Who Came

**Hiya all! :) Enjoy! Hope you like the Author's Note at the end. It's 2 AM now... brain getting slower and slower. Sleep, here I come! 1k follows, 1k favorites soon! Thank you guys!**

* * *

''So, how was he?'' Kaede asked her partner as they were walking in the desert toward the meeting point. They were about a day of walking from the village now and no sand shinobi had tried to pursue them. A good decision considering how she slaughtered a whole battalion of their ANBU.

''I overestimated him, sadly. He is good for his age but for a kage? It was a bit too much for him.'' Naruto said with a small frown as he briefly looked at the jinchuriki on his shoulder.

Getting a good fight these days was getting rarer and rarer. Only Kaguya and Kaede could give him a run for his money. And again, while he may not be at Kaguya's level yet, he was going to reach it soon. It didn't help that she wasn't there most of the time also. Kaede, she was good, absolutely deadly at close range with her vectors, but she wasn't at his level yet. He chuckled as he thought of Madara. The man had trained him good but he was now stronger than him. Being trained by Kaguya Ootsutsuki, the mother of the Sage of the Six Paths, had its perks. Knowing that Kaede was looking at him, he smiled in return.

''Just thinking about Madara.'' She curtly nodded in response.

Madara Uchiha. While she had never met the man, he was one of the few people who had actually trained Naruto. He had also tried to control him but it had failed thanks to Zetsu.

''We should be seeing them soon.'' Naruto said as he noticed the sand turning to grass progressively as they entered the Land of Rivers. ''Here they are.''

Two figures were seen in the distance, one on the ground and the other on the branch of a tree. Both were wearing the normal Akatsuki cloak along with the conical hat. The one on the ground was Sasori inside one of his puppet named Hiruko and the other was Deidara, a blond haired man with blue eyes.

''Yurei-sama, Kaede-sama.'' Sasori greeted them by nodding his head at them.

''A pleasure to meet both of you in person after all I've heard from you, hm!'' Deidara said with a grin and Sasori nodded at them.

While this was the first time he had met them, Sasori had heard much about those two. They were one of the oldest members of their organization and the second strongest pair behind their leader and his partner. That and their nickname the 'Invisible Duo' was well earned. He considered his spy network a very good one but even after many years, he still had nothing on them. They literally were ghosts. He went as far as twenty years back to look for _anything _about them. The only thing he found was that Kaede had been a friend of Naruto Uzumaki, the now deceased older sibling of the Kyuubi jinchurikis.

''Thank you for the praise but the sooner it is done, the best it is for us, we have other things to do.'' Naruto said and took the jinchuriki off his shoulder and let him fall to the ground. ''I have placed two seals on him, one that put him to sleep and another to immobilize him.''

''Got it.'' Deidara said and created one of his clay owl to transport the jinchuriki.

''I have a question, if you have time. I have heard too few about you two to not ask.'' Sasori humbly said, showing the respect he had for them. Briefly looking at Kaede, Naruto silently communicated with her just like a married couple would.

''Alright.'' Naruto said having come to an agreement with Kaede. They had nothing to loose and Sasori had been respectful toward them in asking it. ''Shoot.''

''Which village are you from? You do not seem to have headbands.'' Sasori asked.

''None.'' Kaede curtly said, surprising a bit Sasori and Deidara that she could speak. In all of their meetings, she had never spoken. It was quite surprising to hear what her voice sounded like even though it was very short. Still, it looked like what they had expected from the expression she always wore.

''Konoha.''

''I see, thank you for your time.'' Sasori replied and he and Deidara started going toward the Akatsuki hideout to start the sealing while Naruto and Kaede went their way.

* * *

''What the hell happened here?!'' Natsumi said bewildered as she saw the chaos at the North Gate of Suna. Menma, Sakura, Kakashi and Temari besides her couldn't help but agree with her. At multiple places in front of them, the ground was fractured, little or big rocks were everywhere, every building in the area was destroyed and at some places the ground was uplifted. There was also a subtle scent of blood in the air, Kakashi noted.

''Are you the team from Konoha that we requested help from? Great to see you back Temari-sama, we will need all the help we can.'' A jounin of Suna greeted them.

''Mamoru!'' Temari said as she recognized the Jounin Commander of her village.

''Yes, but what happened here?'' Sakura inquired with a small frown at all the damage caused.

''Akatsuki.'' Mamoru gravely said with a sigh. ''They kidnapped Kazekage-sama but that is not the only thing.''

''What do you mean?'' Temari asked with apprehension.

She was never the superstitious one but when her cup of coffee cracked slightly back in Konoha, she felt that something was off. She decided to go back to Suna sooner and on her way back, Natsumi, Menma, Sakura and Kakashi caught up with her and told her the grave news concerning her brother.

''We lost three hundreds ANBU against them when they were going to leave. Kankuro-sama and Baki-sama were the only ones to survive but they are in a grave condition last I heard. They were poisoned and every medic available are trying to find a cure.'' Mamoru said with a grave expression.

''The Akatsuki members, what were they looking like? Do you know their identities?'' Kakashi asked.

''The first one was a man and he was the one who took kidnapped Gaara-sama. The fight lasted for about ten minutes before it was over. All we saw about him was his red clouded cloak as his hat was hiding his face along with short black hair. He was highly skilled in fire ninjutsu and he could fly like the Sandaime Tsuchikage. His partner was a female with pink short hair and red eyes. She was seen waiting at the North Gate for her partner and she is also the one who killed all the ANBUs.'' He informed them.

''I see...'' Temari murmured through gritted teeth. '' Any news about their whereabouts?''

''After the loss of the three hundreds ANBU, we didn't think it would be wise to send even more men to their deaths.''

''Kankuro and Baki, where are they now?'' Temari asked with concern.

''Emergency room number four at the main hospital.''

''Thank you.'' Temari said and they immediately rushed to see her brother and sensei's condition.

Arriving at the hospital, they entered through the main door before Temari guided them down the many corners and twists. On their way, they saw that a lot of people had been injured during the assault. Many were either burned or had some lacerations or cuts depending on the situation. After a minute or so of rapid walking, they saw a board with 'Emergency Room N°4' on it. Opening the doors, Temari saw her brother on one of the two beds with doctors all round him or on the counters to the side, examining the poison presumably.

''T-Temari?'' Kankuro weakly said as sweat was profusely going down his face.

''Kankuro!'' Temari replied with anguish at seeing the state of her brother. ''What happened?!''

''Temari-sama.'' One of the doctors said to her. Looking at him, she deducted that he was the one in charge of everyone here. ''While I understand you may want to speak with him, be as short as possible. From what we know of the poison, the more he exhaust himself, the more the poison gain ground.''

''Understood.'' Temari gravely nodded.

''Can I offer my help?'' Sakura asked the head doctor. ''I am an apprentice of Tsunade-sensei, I know a bit about poison if I can be of any help.''

''It would be very appreciated then. That poison...'' The man sighed in frustration. ''I have seen many poisons throughout my forty-three years as a doctor but this is the first time I see such a thing.''

''What do you means it is the first time seeing that?'' Natsuki asked as she, Menma, Temari, Kakashi and Sakura now had their whole attention on the doctor.

''How can I say this...'' He said as he crossed his arms over his chest. ''First, I don't know how but Kankuro-sama had no wounds, cuts or anything on him to let the poison enter him, yet it entered somehow. We also tracked down where the poison originally started and to our surprise, it started in the right ventricle of his heart. We can use a special jutsu to track down the origin of the poison and that is where it has led us. It seemed as if it was always there or it was somehow placed there. However I find that latter theory highly unlikely as per Kankuro's report, she, the Akatsuki member, never touched them.''

''Second, the nature of the poison is unlike any others. While it started in the right ventricle of his heart, it didn't immediately killed him or damaged him physically. The damage seem psychologically. It started there then it started to produce even more poison alone and after a certain amount of time, it dispersed inside his whole body to cover pretty much everywhere and it has done nothing ever since apart from causing Kankuro-sama more pain.''

''What do we know about the Akatsuki member that Kankuro fought against?'' Kakashi asked and the doctor was going to answer but Kankuro did in his place.

''P-pink hair, red eyes... Don't know what happened. I tried to fight her with my puppets... but she destroyed them before I could do anything. That woman... she scared us so much for a moment... that we trembled from fear for a mo-!'' He started caughing.

''Kankuro! Stop, I know you want to say more but please stop!'' Temari pleaded her brother as she saw his condition worsening.

''N-no, I have to finish.'' He said once he was back to normal. He saw how Temari was looking at him but he had to continue. ''That woman... She did many things I thought were impossible. I don't know if it was true or no... but I felt no chakra coming from her. Even a... civilian or baby have more than she had.''

''How can someone have no chakra?'' Menma said voicing his opinion for the first time.

''That is impossible, everyone have chakra. We are born with it.'' Natsumi said as a matter of fact.

''Maybe but there is many things that we don't know and in this world, a lot is possible.'' Kakashi said as he remembered certain events of his past.

''Alright, I am going to use a technique taught to me by my sensei to draw out the poison. It will be extremely painful so I will need someone to restrain him.'' Temari nodded at her and restrained her brother from moving. ''Unfortunately, I won't be able to draw out all the poison. Kankuro will still need the cure to fully treat him. Until then, it's his best chance at surviving.''

''Thank you so much.'' The head doctor said with a relieved sigh. ''We will double our efforts to find a cure if you can lessen the damage to him.''

''I heard Baki was also poisoned, what happened to him?'' Temari asked but immediately got a bad foreboding feeling in her stomach when she saw a few of the doctors stiffen involuntary.

''Baki-sensei... succumbed to the poison a few hours ago.'' Kankuro said with grief.

''I see...'' Temari said as tears were building up in her eyes.

* * *

Opening the door of one of their many safe houses, Naruto smiled as he saw that everything was still the same as it had always been. This one was one of his favorite so he always felt a bit of joy coming back here each time. Taking off his cloak and hat, he put them in the wardrobe to his right and Kaede followed him a second later and did the same. Kaede was wearing a black kimono with white flowers on it along a crimson obi and Naruto was wearing what each member of the Akatsuki wore under the cloak. Kaede was the only exception to the rule due to that she don't like it.

''Finally we can relax a bit!'' Naruto said as he dropped the henge on his face and immediately went to lay down on the king sized bed that was taking a quarter of the whole place. This safe house was made to sleep a night or two. There was nothing more apart from the bed, a wooden table, two chairs and a very small wardrobe. Everything else was in the scrolls should they have a need.

''You're becoming lazy.'' Kaede giggled as she joined him on the bed, laying down across from him.

''That's the response I get for wanting to spend more time with my girlfriend?'' He replied in a deadpanned voice.

''Don't take it personally, idiot.'' She replied with amusement in her voice.

''I never took it personally.'' He replied with a laugh. ''Hey! Why did you hit me?!''

''You're an idiot.'' She answered as if it was normal.

''What a mistreated boyfriend I am.'' He said jokingly and they both laugh at the joke. It felt good to release the pressure once every time.

While he wasn't the same little depressed kid that he had been in his childhood, he still had his moments of depression. They were almost non-existent now thanks to Kaede though. He still had his dream of peace of using the Infinite Tsukuyomi to bring peace and while it had changed a bit for the end, he still had that same determination to achieve it. Kaede was also of the same opinion and it had made everything much easier in the process. Having someone to watch your back, the only one he could trust, was very good. They were pretty deadly alone but their true strength laid in their teamwork. Together, they could defeat Kaguya, quite a big feat considering what a monster she is, but only by a small margin.

'_Yurei, Kaede._' A voice inside their voice said.

'_Pain?_' Naruto responded. '_What is it?_'

'_A Konoha team is heading toward the sealing chamber to recuperate the Ichibi jinchuriki. Normally it wouldn't be a bother but this time they have Kakashi of the sharingan, Gai the Green Beast of Konoha, the elder Chiyo of Suna, the Kyuubi jinchurikis and three others. We won't take any chance. We need you to delay them long enough for the sealing to end._' Pain said monotonously.

'_Understood, we will intercept them._' Naruto replied and cut the connection.

''Kakashi of the sharingan, Gai the Green Beast of Konoha, the elder Chiyo of Suna and the Kyuubi jinchurikis uh?'' Kaede said with curiosity. ''I'm almost tempted to see your little siblings.''

''But?'' Naruto inquired curiously.

''Don't feel like it.'' She replied looking at the ceiling deep in thoughts. ''What about you?

''And you say I'm lazy?'' He said with a chuckle as she mock glared at him. ''My younger siblings, I barely remember them. They may do whatever they want to, I don't care.''

''What are we going to do then?''

''No need to go if you don't want to. I'm going to send 'it' in our place.''

''Isn't that too much for them to handle? It massacred an entire village.'' Kaede said turning her head at him with a look of very small worry. She never liked that thing. While she knew it was under his complete control, the memory of that man still annoyed her.

''Don't worry.'' He said with a shrug. ''I will order it to not kill anyone and to prevent any of them from going further until the sealing is done.''

''Alright then.'' She said and silence filled the safe house.

* * *

In a dark cavern illuminated by eight astral people and two real ones, one on each finger of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, the Akatsuki had just started sealing the first jinchuriki, Gaara.

''Never thought I would see Zetsu split himself to complete our numbers.'' Kisame said with a chuckle, breaking the silence.

''Three. Fucking. Days. Why does those bastards get a vacation?!'' Hidan yelled with irritation.

''Still angry about them putting you in your place? Hm!'' Deidara said with a smirk.

''Shut up you bastard!'' Hidan yelled back at him.

''That is a good question, why are Kaede and Yurei not here? This is the first time they miss one of our meetings.'' Itachi Uchiha said.

''Curious are you, Itachi?'' Kisame said with amusement but Itachi didn't replied.

''Like Hidan has said, they were not needed for it so I sent them on another mission to locate the Nibi.'' Pain, the leader of Akatsuki, said in a monotone voice.

''I see.'' Itachi said. Yurei and Kaede... As much as he could gather information about those two, the only thing he knew about them was that Kaede was Naruto's long lost friend. The same one that Naruto had spoken so much about to him. She was the one who had been able to stop his depression but after she went missing, he had lost sight of his friend. He went even further in his depression. It saddened him to think about his childhood friend like that. What was she doing in the Akatsuki? That question only led to even more questions sadly.

''Those bastards, next time I see th-''

''Shut up, Hidan!'' His partner, Kakuzu, interrupted him rather rudely.

* * *

''I have done the maximum that I could for him.'' Sakura said as she extracted the last part of the poison from Kankuro who now looked a lot better.

''Thank you very much for your help.'' The head doctor said bowing to her.

''I was happy to help.'' Sakura said with an exhausted smile as she saw Kankuro falling asleep.

''Natsumi, Menma and Kakashi are waiting for you outside.'' Temari said gratefully nodding at her.

''I will come back later to check on him.'' Sakura said and went out of the room. Natsumi was sitting on the ground reading a scroll, Menma had a deep frown on his face and Kakashi was leaning against the wall reading his orange book.

''So, how is Kankuro?'' Kakashi asked seeing her.

''Good but I will have to stay here to prevent his condition from worsening even more just in case.'' She said. ''You will have to go after Gaara without me, sorry.''

''Don't be.'' Another voice said. Turning to where it was coming, she was greeted by an old woman well into her sixties and maybe more.

''Chiyo-sama, welcome back.'' Kakashi said, closing his book. She merely nodded in response.

''I will be coming instead. That poison is unlike any that I have ever seen and I am a specialist of poisons. I have seen nearly every poison that currently exist, but that one is unique. I want to know more about who made it. It... really intrigue me.'' Chiyo said with a frown.

''This is Chiyo-sama, one of the two members of the Honored Siblings of Suna along with being the village's expert in poisons and puppets. She does not involve herself with the village anymore but with its... current situation, there was no other choice. They were called back to lead the village until a new Kazekage is found or until Gaara can be rescued. We made presentations earlier while you were healing Kankuro.'' Kakashi finished with an eye smile as he remembered how she attacked him believing he was his father.

''What do you mean until they find a new Kazekage? Are they going to abandon Gaara!?'' Menma asked heatedly concerned about his close friend.

''Unfortunately.'' Chiyo answered him neutrally. ''If the report about those who kidnapped Gaara is true then they are extremely dangerous. You and your team are the only ones currently strong enough to attempt to rescue him.''

''Don't worry, team Gai is also on the way for backup, which we will very surely need. If it wasn't for them then we wouldn't even have attempted to try to retrieve Gaara.''

''What?!'' Menma said with rage in his eyes. ''Are you saying that we were going to abandon Gaara?!''

''Menma!'' Kakashi said with a seriousness which surprised all of them for a moment. ''Have you read the report concerning Gaara's fight along with the massacre of the ANBUs?''

''I have heard about it, but I haven't read it. Why? Is it important? They kidnapped Gaara and we must get him back! That's all that count!'' Menma countered as Natsumi and Sakura perked up at the mention of the report.

''Menma.'' Kakashi said with a sigh and directly looked at him in the eyes. ''Those who kidnapped Gaara are dangerous, more than you think and we will need everyone we can to try to get him back. The one who fought Gaara played with him, it's obvious. The only two that I know that could play with S-class opponents like that were Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju and they were in a league of their own.''

''What I mean... Is that we are probably going to face off against two people who are in the same league as those two. The fight lasted ten minutes or so and 95% of the fight I would say, he _let _Gaara think he had the advantage. After that, he started to attack Gaara and it didn't even took a minute for Gaara to be defeated.''

''That strong?'' Natsumi said disbelievingly along with Sakura and Menma who simply had a surprised look.

''Yes, that strong. And that is only one member. The other, a pink haired and red eyes woman, killed three hundreds ANBU in not even two or three seconds and without moving at all.'' Kakashi said and saw Menma tilt his head downward though he could hear him grit his teeth in anger.

''So, until team Gai is there, we can't go?'' Menma said.

''Yes.''

''Don't worry, Menma.'' Natsumi said with a smile putting one of her hands on his shoulder to comfort him. ''We will bring back Gaara, that's for sure.''

* * *

''I see them!'' Menma suddenly shouted as he saw four figures approaching the North Gate of Suna.

''Let's go meet them, we have no time to waste.'' Kakashi said and ran toward them to meet with them. Looking at his dog summon named Pakkun beside him, he asked. ''Pakkun, do you still have the scent of Gaara?''

''Yes but it is very weak.''

''Perfect.'' He nodded to his summon who gave him a smile in response.

''Kakashi!'' Gai shouted enthusiastically. ''How is my eternal rival today?''

''We have no time for this Gai.'' He said surprising Gai and the other three. ''Gaara has been kidnapped by Akatsuki as you were briefed but his scent is growing weaker so we must go right now.''

''Understood.'' Gai said with a small frown understanding and everyone started to follow Pakkun.

While they were traveling toward the location, Kakashi briefed team Gai about the situation along with the two opponents they were most probably going to face. It really stunned them how strong those two who kidnapped Gaara were. To face such strong people, no wonder team Kakashi and Chiyo waited for them.

After the debriefing was done, they were able to relax a bit. They made presentations and team Gai was happy at seeing Natsumi and Menma for the first time since their training trip. They talked a lot about what they did in their training trip but it was mostly Natsumi since Menma wasn't very sociable. It was to be understood knowing how deep the friendship he had with Gaara went. It surprised Chiyo but when Kakashi explained to her that Natsumi and Menma were jinchurikis, she was starting to understand why he wanted to save Gaara so much. As for Natsumi, she also wasn't going to let someone like her, a jinchuriki, die by the Akatsuki.

The Akatsuki was everything she was standing against. They wanted to kidnapped every jinchurikis for the purpose of extracting the bijuus inside them. For what, they didn't know yet but it stood against everything she believed. Everything she stood against was born from the death of her nii-san, Naruto. When he died, it opened her eyes to the cruel and harsh world, and she was going to change that. The method of the hidden villages created by Hashirama Senju worked but only for a time. She didn't know how but it wasn't going to be by force like the Akatsuki did by forcefully extracting the bijuus, killing the host in the process. One day, she will find a way to achieve peace but until then, she really didn't know.

Apart from that, they didn't talked much as they tree-jumped. Once everything was said, everyone started their own little talks.

''There is something in front of us...'' Neji suddenly said as he had his byakugan active.

''What is it?'' Gai asked in anticipation as everyone readied themselves for the incoming battle.

''I-I don't know... It looks like a very skinny humanoid with two arms and legs but without eyes, nose, ears and it has two mandibles. Even stranger is the fact that it has a gap separating his body up to his rib cage. His chakra capacity is around kage-level.'' Neji said with a deep frown as he gazed with his byakugan at the creature.

''What the fuck is that?'' Menma asked as everyone was surprised and a bit disgusted for some at the creature blocking their path after they got out of the forest. It was just like Neji had described and it was clearly waiting for them. ''Hey! Who are you!''

''I don't think it can hear you.'' Gai said with a frown after it didn't answer them after a few seconds. ''Kakashi! Let's try! All of you, stay back.''

Nodding in response, Kakashi uncovered his sharingan and they dashed toward the creature. It did nothing for a moment but then it moved. Gai barely had the time to place his arms in front of him before the creature punched him, very hard which made him grit his teeth in pain. He tried to counter but it was faster than him and it kicked him in the stomach, making him go back to the group where his student Lee caught him.

''Gai-sensei! Are you ok?'' Lee asked worryingly as the group then saw Kakashi coming back the same way as him.

''Yeah, I'm ok. Kakashi?'' Gai reassured his student before turning to Kakashi who was similarly caught but by Menma.

''Yeah. Thank you Menma.'' Kakashi said before nursing his chest.

''It doesn't seem to be moving?'' Natsumi said as she narrowed her eyes at the creature.

''Then we will make a way!'' Menma shouted before he was stopped by Kakashi.

''Stop, let's make a plan before trying anything else. If its speed and strength is anything, then we will need a plan.'' Kakashi said as Gai agreed with him.

* * *

''This safe house... it bring so many memories.'' Naruto chuckled as he and Kaede were now under the covers of the bed hugging each other and preparing themselves to sleep soon.

''Each time you say that.'' Kaede giggled in amusement. ''But yes, we should come here more often.''

''I love you... I don't know what I would do without you.'' Naruto said then noticed her getting more clingy.

''I know and I love you too.'' She replied with a smile full of love which Naruto copied.

''Going to sleep.'' He said kissing her on the lips for a few seconds. However, he soon felt her pushing her mid-sized breasts into his chest purposely.

''You up for it?'' She said sensually.

''Why not?'' He chuckled before they started undressing. What would have happened had he not confessed his feelings he thought.

**(No lemon, sorry)**

_Flashback_

_''What are we going to do tomorrow?'' A 17 years old Kaede asked her partner as they were crossing into the Land of the Rivers._

_''One of my informants in Taki informed me of something we will need to check tomorrow. For the moment, I have a safe house in which we will be able to pass this night.''_

_''You think we could do something inside the nearby town before sleeping?'' She asked._

_''No thanks, I am going to sleep. You can join me later if you want though.'' He responded rather stoically._

_''Alright, we will go tomorrow when you won't be tired then.'' She replied._

_Their walk to the safe house was unpleasant in Kaede's opinion. Or the past days, she frowned. She could not understand what was wrong with him. She was trying to know what was wrong but he kept refusing to tell her. She was starting to find it very annoying. Then they arrived inside their safe house which only had two beds, two chairs, a wooden table and a small wardrobe._

_''Alright, what is your problem?!'' Kaede said wanting more than ever right now to know what was wrong with him. She had tried multiple times to know what was going on these past days with him but he was so much stubborn! ''These past days you have been acting stranger and stranger. I don't understand!'' _

_''Nothing is happening and everything is fine!'' Naruto answered with his fists clenched as he decided to face her. Unfortunately, Kaede saw his fists. _

_''No! Not everything is fine and until you don't tell me what is wrong I wont stop asking! You are my friend and friends aren't supposed to keep secrets from each other!'' She said as she was starting to yell._

_''I told you, everything is fi-''He responded with the same intensity as her but he was interrupted._

_''DID YOU LISTENED TO WHAT I SAID?! I. WON'T. STOP. ASKING. UNTIL. YOU. TELL. ME. WHAT. IS. WRONG!'' She yelled this time. _

_''YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S WRONG?!''_

_''GET ON WITH IT ALREADY! WHAT IS IT?!''_

_''I LOVE YOU!''_

_''YEAH AN-what?'' Kaede said as she was struck dumb at the confession. ''Y-you l-love m-me?'' She murmured in surprise._

_''...yeah.'' Naruto said with a sneer and it grew even more when she started laughing. ''Why are you laughing?!''_

_''T-that... all?'' She said still laughing. _

_''That's why I shouldn't have to-''_

_''You idiot.'' Kaede interrupted him with a small smile. ''You should have told me sooner.''_

_''W-what?'' This time it was Naruto's turn to be surprised. ''What do you mean?''_

_''Because... I think I love you too... That's what this feeling of butterflies in the stomach means, right?'' She said mostly to herself. ''I don't know why but I also want to be with you even more than before recently. It's strange but I think it's that. I just never took the time to look into that.''_

_''I-I see...'' He replied incredibly nervously not knowing what to do next. ''So...''_

_''You are my boyfriend and I am your girlfriend.'' She said giving him a big hug with a wide smile._

_''Huh... Alright then...'' Naruto said utterly lost at what had happened. ''So... I guess we are together?''_

_''Yes, why not.'' Kaede said with a giggle._

_''This... is weird.'' Naruto said with a small frown but he returned the hug. They stayed like that for a few minutes before going to sleep with him having a large weight off his shoulders and a question._

_'_What the fuck happened?_'_

_Flashback End_

* * *

''What is it doing?!'' Natsumi asked as the creature stopped fighting them and dashed backward. Then, it disappeared making everyone prepare for its next attack. After a minute or so, they all started to slowly relax.

''It's gone.'' Pakkun informed them. ''Its smell, I can't detect it anymore.''

''I see, so it's really gone.'' Gai said with a frown. But if retired then that means...

''Fuck, we need to hurry!'' Kakashi finished his thoughts and Pakkun immediately understood and continued to follow Gaara's scent along with everyone following him.

''What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?'' Menma asked with a hollow feeling in his stomach as everyone started to run even faster.

''That thing was most probably sent by Akatsuki to block our path. It also never directly attacked us, it simply prevented us from going further. Which means that if it retired then the objective of Akatsuki, extracting Ichibi, is now most likely completed or is going to be very soon.'' Kakashi with a somber tone and Menma gasped.

''You mean that Gaara...?'' Menma said wide eyed in disbelief.

''Gaara can still be alive but not for very long, we need to go faster!'' Neji exclaimed as they ran even faster.

* * *

''That is where Gaara's scent stop.'' Pakkun said as they all eyed a massive boulder blocking the entrance.

''Thank you for your help, Pakkun.'' Kakashi nodded at him before he saluted him and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

''There is a five-seal barrier on it.'' Natsumi commented as she saw the seal.

''What is that?'' Tenten inquired.

''This is a seal that require five people to remove them simultaneously and when done, it will allow us to enter. Not a very dangerous seal but it can be if the user added a trap which will summon copies of those who remove them. This seal being the central one, it cannot be modified so it won't summon a copy of ourself. Knowing it is the Akatsuki, be prepared for it.'' Natsumi said before turning to Neji. ''There should be four other seals in the surroundings, forming a square with this one being the central one, can you see them?''

''...yes, we will take care of them while you enter.'' Neji said after a few moments.

''I have headsets to communicate with each other to remove them simultaneously.'' Gai said before adding. ''Are you going to wait for us to enter?''

''It won't be necessary.'' Chiyo said suddenly, getting the attention of everyone. ''I can feel two chakra behind that boulder... one that I know too well and that I had hoped to one day see again before dying. My grandson, Sasori of the Red Sands. We are not against the two who attacked Suna.''

''That is a relief then.'' Kakashi said with a sigh at not having to fight two Hashirama and Madara monsters.

''Right, let's go!'' Gai said and all of them went toward their respective seals. A few minutes later, Kakashi got the confirmation via his headset that everyone was in place and ready to remove the seals.

''Three, two, one, now!'' Kakashi, Gai, Neji, Tenten and Lee all removed the seals at the same time.

''Shit, it's just like Natsumi predicted. We will busy Kakashi!'' Gai said through the headset as Tenten, Neji and Lee also reported copies of them rising from the ground to fight them.

''Good luck to you, we are entering!'' Kakashi replied before cutting the communication. ''Menma?''

''Here I come!'' Menma yelled as a blue orb formed in his palm until it grew to the size of a basket ball. After it was completed, he charged it at the giant boulder. ''**Rasengan!**''

When the boulder was destroyed, they could now see the dark cavern. Jumping inside, they saw that there was nothing except two people, one of which was sitting on the body of another laying down on the ground.

''We came too late.'' Kakashi murmured to himself seeing Gaara's body.

'_Sasori..._' Chiyo thought as she gazed at her grandson inside his puppet, Hiruko.

''Bastards! What do you think you are sitting on?!'' Menma immediately yelled as he noticed a blond-haired man sitting on the body of Gaara. His eyes became red and gained a red slit in them showing how angry he was.

''No doubt possible. It's one of the two jinchurikis. The first thing he will do will be to yell at you. Actually, Itachi didn't made fun of us. You understand, right?'' Deidara, the blond-haired on said at Menma with a smirk.

''You bastards!'' Menma yelled with rage as he dashed forward to attack them but Kakashi stopped him.

''Calm down, Menma. We need a plan.'' Kakashi said and Menma reluctantly agreed.

''Alright.'' Deidara said stretching his arms before turning to Sasori and nodding. Throwing an already made clay bird in the air, he made a hand sign and it transformed into a giant one. Taking the corpse of Gaara inside the bird's mouth, he jumped on the bird. ''See you soon!'' He saluted his partner and took off out of the cavern with Menma following him.

''I am going with Menma, I trust you two will handle him?'' Kakashi said to Natsumi and Chiyo and when he received two nods, he followed Menma.

A silence filled the place as they gazed at each other. More like Chiyo and Sasori looking at each other for the first time in over twenty years.

''I thought you had retired a long time ago.'' Sasori said breaking the silence.

''I did but with all the damage done to Suna, I had no choice but to lead it for a few times until it is back to normal. That and I had hoped to see the one who poisoned Kankuro and Baki. Her poison is on par or better than yours.'' Chiyo replied.

''Sorry to disappoint you but the one you are seeking is Kaede, no-''

''Kaede!?'' Natsumi said, gaining the attention of Sasori.

''Ah yes.'' Sasori said with a chuckle. ''Yes, _that _Kaede. One of the only friends your elder brother had before he died.''

''What do you know about her?!'' Natsumi said as she took her katana tightly.

''Defeat me, and I will tell you more about her.''

* * *

(**Skipping fight, not too important, in my opinion sorry. Also don't see the point in this part beside a bit of fighting which I already did last chapter to show Natsumi and Menma's powers.)**

* * *

''Congratulations.'' Sasori chuckled as his heart in his puppet body was pierced from behind by Natsumi's katana. All around them, the remains of his one hundred puppet army along with the third Kazekage's puppet were lying among the battlefield. Chiyo's Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets were still intact although a few were damaged. ''I did promised you to tell you what I know about Kaede. So what is it that you wish to know?''

''What happened to her? I know she was a friend of Naruto-nii-san at one point, a very important one.'' Natsumi said added sadly.

''She and her partner, Yurei, are those who invaded Suna. I know nothing about their powers. The only thing I know is that Kaede was a friend of your elder brother at one point in the past and that they were among the first to join Akatsuki. A few days ago, I was able to meet them for the first time and I asked them which village they were from. Kaede said that she was from none while Yurei said Konoha. Those two are dangerous.'' He said feeling his vitality fading. ''More than you can imagine. We call them the 'Invisible Duo' and it's not for nothing. I have a wide spy network and over the years, that is the only information that I have been able to gather. Those two are literally ghosts. Yurei... it means ghost. This is not his real name, on that I am sure. There is something else though but I am not 100% percent sure, more like 80%.''

''What is it?'' Natsumi asked with a frown.

''The massacre of Kusa... They are linked to it somehow... I had to pull a lot of resources to know this...'' Sasori said before he fondly looked at Chiyo. ''Chiyo-baa-san... It was a good thing... to see you one last time.'' Then he stopped moving.

* * *

**So? How did you find that chapter? I skipped the last fight yeah and I will do just like with Menma, Menma is just like Naruto in connon to be honest. I won't skip all fights though, the unimportant ones will be though. Also, I am a reader before a writer so me too I wouldn't have read a part where it is the same as in cannon lol. Naruto confessing to Kaede, that strange poison, their reputation in Akatsuki and Kusa's Massacre. Did I forget to add epicness? I write for those epic moments! Think I may have made a few grammatical mistakes though, it's 2 AM here and my brain is getting a lot slower it seems. English not being my first language also.**

**Was going to do a stats sheet but I thought against it. Still, Kaede is a bit mysterious so I will explain a bit about her powers. Her vectors are nearly invincible, they ARE weak against something very specific and they can be destroyed temporarily but it take some time for them to regenerate. **

**Four types of frequency for her vectors.**

**Low Frequency: They can go through any objects without causing physical interference. A special ability of staying in that frequency is that they are invisible and nearly untouchable. Should she wants to, she can put anything inside them to make it invisible as long as the vectors stay in that frequency, meaning both the vector and object or person inside them is invisible. It also allow her to pass through things should her vectors envelopped her or any object(The poison for example, she had a vial inside her coat containing it. She used a low frequency of her vectors to pass through anything to get to the poison inside her coat. At that moment, she allowed a drop of it to enter one of her vectors through a very specific point, allowing it to be protected by anything. Finally, she went inside Kankuro's body and only solidified the part of her vector containing the drop of poison, depositing the poison inside him.) Hard to explain but hope you got it!**

**Medium Frequency: Solid enough to lift objects or people and to be seen(she is good enough with them to only show them for a milisecond or so. Only someone with a sharingan enough advanced could hope to see them unless she allows them to be seen).**

**High Frequency: Can pretty much slash anything(like she shredded Kankuro's puppet).**

**Extremely High Frequency: At that level, it gains explosive power. Meaning they vibrate so fast that everything she comes in contact with at that frequency will causes explosion just like the Explosive Release does.**

**Hope it cleared much of the confusion surrounding her. Would have wanted to make you discover her as the story progress but considering she is an OC/Crossover character, I thought I should have told you a bit more about. That and I modified her abilities a bit from Elfen Lied. See you next time!**


	8. Aftermath

**Yeah yeah it has been a LONG time. I won't say sorry because I recently learned to never say sorry for things in which you have no control. Computer broke two times, both times the chapter was almost done so this is the third time I wrote the chapter. Got school + work too so time to write is scarce. Not to mention when I WANT to write. **

**Also wrote two experimental stories that I deleted because I needed to experiment some things and I got what I wanted from the reviews. I also experiment in this story as well. I LOVE original concepts that don't stray too far from the story.**

**I will say this though: I will NEVER abandon this story. I have the story mapped till the very end. Good news here, this is an Interlude chapter meaning the calm before the storm is seriously there. The next few chapters are going to go up in action drastically. Soft time is over after this chapter. Period. May be an interlude but I put some very interesting hints or revelations. A chapter is not a chapter if its all talk or all action without some badass things happening. Alright, no more words here.**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"The massacre of Kusa… It has been a while since I have heard of something about this." Minato mused with a frown. Turning around, he looked at the group he sent to rescue the Kazekage. "That event is one of the most mysterious thing I had the displeasure of knowing… but I will tell you. Know that what I am about to tell you is an A-class secret."

Everyone present in the room, Natsumi, Menma, Sakura, Kakashi, Gai, Neji, Lee, Tenten, and the ANBUs hiding around, stiffened up hearing the stern voice of Minato.

"Three years ago, the village of Kusa stopped giving signs of life. The first week, we assumed that they had went in a lockdown. However, when we still didn't have any information whatsoever after the first week, we sent spies to see what was happening. A day later I received a message requesting assistance so I sent Anko along with a group of ANBU. What they discovered was something out of this world. Something I had always thought impossible." At that, he visibly but very lightly shuddered as a shiver went down his spine. "All of their ANBUs were crucified and in such a state of advanced decomposition that we estimate them being dead for at least five or six months old. Which is impossible as we have many witnesses saying that some of them were alive just a few days before Kusa stop giving signs of life. Another strange thing is that no one was found in the village. There were no signs of a fight anywhere and everything was at its normal place. Even the food was still on the tables. Just like a real ghost village where everyone get kidnapped without anyone noticing."

"The whole thing is a madhouse." A voice from behind said.

"Jiraiya sensei." Minato greeted him with everyone else giving him a nod. Entering through the window, he stood up next to Minato and crossed his arms pensively.

"A madhouse?" Natsumi asked perplexed.

"You mind that I continue?" Jiraiya asked Minato with a somber tone.

"None at all." He replied shaking his head. "It might actually help considering you were one of the first ones to be there."

"You were there?" Kakashi asked in slight surprise.

"Yeah… Almost wished I never saw it either." Jiraiya replied with a frown. "Anyways, to continue where we were at, no one was found in the village apart from those crucified ANBUs. You should have seen the streets and buildings to believe how much blood there was. It was unbelievable. And the last strange thing is that a group of children and babies suddenly appeared out of nowhere in Iwa at the same time Kusa stopped giving signs of life. No signs of anything done to them except none of them can remember anything prior to a week before Kusa stopped giving signs of life."

"Like Jiraiya sensei said, it's a madhouse. Nothing make sense!" Minato said with frustration. "Kusa was one of the strongest minor villages, but all of their ANBUs were killed without any fight or anything that indicate one! The ANBUs were in such a state of advanced decomposition that it is impossible for them being dead for anything less than five or six months, yet some people confirmed seeing them alive a few days before. The civilians and every other shinobi disappearing out of thin air with some houses still having food on their tables. The unreal amount of blood in the streets. The kids appearing out of nowhere in Iwa with holes in their memories."

"Even Shikaku can't make head or tail of this case." Jiraiya said.

"That much?" Tenten murmured in disbelief.

"That is… disturbing." Neji said as he understood the situation. "Do you at least have any hints as to what could have done something like this?"

"None." Jiraiya replied.

"How come we weren't notified about this?" Gai asked, referring to himself and Kakashi.

"You should have been but we decided not to." Minato said. "You both had a team of genins at the time so the chances of you going on a mission near Kusa was very much unlikely and with no information about who or what caused it, it served no purpose to brief you about it unless you were sent near that area. The area around Kusa is also quarantined."

"Why is it still quarantined after three years?" Menma asked.

"Who or what caused that is unknown and we still have no hints to this day so until evidence can be found, the zone will stay closed." Minato said with a frown. "That and each Kage of the major villages don't want this to leak to the public in fear of panic from the civilians so we made up a similar story to Ame."

"But why would you want to hide what happened to them?" Menma asked.

"You don't get it, do you?" Natsumi told her twin as she had her eyes wide open in realization.

"What do you mean?" He replied.

"Those who did that… they literally wiped out an entire village without anyone noticing anything at all until it was too late." Neji answered him.

"Oh... I see…" Menma murmured in shock.

"It's insane…" Sakura said with a frown.

"Natsumi is right." Minato said ominously. "That is the major reason why I am telling you this. There is a lot of things that we do not know of this world and this is one such thing… If you think that you are the strongest, chances are that you are not. I may be the fastest man alive but I must always keep in mind that one day someone might surpass me or has already done so. There will always be someone stronger than each of us."

"How true." Jiraiya said with a small smile. "Anyways, let's switch of subject, things are getting gloomy in here."

"Hold on." Minato told Jiraiya. "Natsumi, what was the reason you asked about the massacre of Kusa?"

"The mission was successful although we lost two people. One is Baki, the sensei of Gaara, Temari and Kankuro and the other is Chiyo one of the elders of Suna. Chiyo gave up her life to resurrect Gaara using some kind of forbidden jutsu while Baki had already died by the moment we arrived due to an unknown poison. Then we managed to track Gaara to a cave protected by a five-seal barrier. Once removed, we entered but it wasn't the same two Akatsuki members who captured him. One was Sasori of the red sands and Deidara the mad bomber."

"It really wasn't anyone." Jiraiya said knowing those two from the bingo book.

"Please continue." Minato told her.

"Deidara used a sort of giant bird clay and brought the corpse of Gaara outside the cave. Menma and Kakashi-sensei followed them while I and Chiyo stayed inside to fight Sasori. We had not even started that Chiyo commentated on being sad to not have met the one who poisoned Baki, one of the two members who kidnapped Gaara. Sasori responded by saying that the one they were seeking was… Kaede."

"Kaede?!" Many said in shock, recognizing the name while some were left perplexed.

"That little pink haired girl that Naruto used to play with?" Jiraiya said disbelievingly

"Yes, the very same. Some people at Suna said that she had short pink hair with red eyes and that she killed over three hundreds ANBUs in mere seconds." Natsumi said.

"That… seem to match her description." Jiraiya said with a frown. "But what is she doing with the Akatsuki?"

"Who knows why but I think we should more focus on how she killed all of those ANBUs so fast."

"Three hundreds ANBUs in a few seconds? How?" Minato said perplexed.

"Kankuro said that he has no ideas, just like everyone. One moment everything was ok and the next, everything was turned over." Sakura said.

"…please continue." Minato said with a sigh. He could feel the headache coming.

"I asked Sasori if he meant Kaede and he told me that yes, she is the one who was friend with Naruto-nii-san. I asked him what he knew about her and he instead offered me a sort of trade. If we were to beat him then he would tell me everything I wished to know. We did and he said that he knew nothing about her or her partner other than they are linked to the massacre of Kusa but he does not know how."

"Her partner." Jiraiya said. "Do we have anything about him?"

"His name is Yurei and Sasori think that it is a fake name since it means 'ghost'. No one have a description of him and he supposedly comes from Konoha. He and Kaede are called the Invisible Duo inside the Akatsuki and it is not for nothing. Sasori claimed to have a wide spy network but even then, he has nothing on them. He only knows that they are somehow involved in the massacre of Kusa and that they were in the first to join the Akatsuki. He clearly warned me to beware of them as 'Those two are dangerous, more than you can imagine'. Kankuro warned us that he is very dangerous as when he was fighting with Gaara, he was clearly toying with him. When he became serious, it didn't even take a minute for him to defeat Gaara. He can levitate like the third Tsuchikage and he has an high elemental affinity with fire."

"Those guys are monsters." Neji said. "One kill three hundred ANBUs in seconds and the other kidnapped the Kazekage like it was nothing..."

"Sasori sure have a wide spy network. Nearly the same size of mine." Jiraiya said surprising many who knew the size of his spy network. "I don't know if we can trust Sasori but so far it is the only information we have on those guys."

"We will have to do with that then." Menma said a bit frustrated.

"Akatsuki is starting to move then." Minato murmured gravely. "And nothing good is coming..."

* * *

"Damnit, I can't believe they were able to beat my kamikaze clone." Deidara said as he got out from under the ground. "Tch, now I need to get my arm back and my ring."

"Do you mind then... if I help you?" Someone said from behind him.

He tried to turn around in time but a black rod pierced his chest before he could.

"Now now, don't be in such a hurry~!" The person from behid him said.

"Wh-who the fuck are you!" Deidara strained to say. Whatever that black rod was, it impaired all of his abilities, preventing him from doing anything.

"You wanna know who little old me is~? How kind of you!" He replied in a fake happy voice that sent chills down Deidara's spine. "Tobo's name is Tobo!"

"T-Tobo?" Deidara said as he felt himself slowly loosing consciousness.

"Yes! Tobo! Tobo had a brother before named Tobi. Tobo loved him so much! Tobi was the older brother of Tobo and like an older brother to his younger siblings, he had responsibilities! But he failed them... Tobo was very sad! But Tobo knew what he had to do so one day Tobo met Tobi. They met, they spoke **and Tobo killed him!**" He abruptly said as his voice darkened considerably at the end.

And then Deidara fell asleep, never to wake up again in the land of the living.

"You will do a great long range fighter once I am done 'upgrading' you to the maximum of your abilities. Shame that you will never see it though..." Tobo said as he removed his white mask with a spiral pattern focused around his right eye.

"Naruto... Did you really have to play this 'game' of yours? What was the point of playing with him?" Another voice dryly said from behind him.

"Oh come on! Cheer up Kaede!" Naruto said turning around to face her. "I have to practice my role for the upcoming war!"

"Now that's funny." She replied with a hint of amusement. "You are Tobo, a stupid but very intelligent madman with the intention to cause a war but before that you are Yurei. High ranking member of the Akatsuki who is as mysterious as our 'leader' and more powerful than him. But before all of that... you are Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki. First born son of the Fourth Hokage who died years ago."

"And you Kaede are... well... Kaede." Naruto said with a wide grin that he thought would annoy her but he was wrong if the smile on her face revealed anything.

"Yes, I am Kaede. Just Kaede. Someone who nobody knows and expect nothing from her." Kaede said with an innocent smile that would have sent anyone who didn't know her as much as he does, cowering away in fear.

"Good point." Naruto chuckled in amusement. "I never saw it this way. Years ago you said that we complete each other in many ways. Guess you found another way uh..."

"Now we need to find a close range fighter." Kaede said pensively.

"I found the perfect one a week ago!" Naruto said with a smile.

"Oh? Then two down and four to go it seems." Kaede replied with amusement.

* * *

Outside of their house in the Namikaze-Uzumaki compound, Natsumi was practicing her kenjutsu. It was late in the night but she didn't care, she just wasn't able to sleep. Her mind kept replaying the events of her last mission. Two of the members of the Akatsuki were now dead. They weren't as invincible as they had thought. S-class or not, they could be defeated. Sasori of the Red Sands. Deidara the Mad Bomber. Itachi Uchiha the one who killed the entire Uchiha clan in one night. Kisame Hoshigaki, the Monster of the Kiri. Yurei. Kaede. Who else was in that organisation. What is their goal. Who is their leader to be able to control such powerful shinobis? What bothered her more than anything is the fact that Kaede, one of the very few friends of Naruto is alive but allied with Akatsuki. What happened to her?

She had heard the story many times. Her older brother traumatized by many things he had seen at a young age shut himself from the world. Even Itachi or Shisui weren't able to save him. One girl was though. Kaede. She made him laugh. She made him act like a child when his mind was more mature than most adults at a very young age. Yes, many thought that she was obsessed with her older deceased brother but she had a reason. She had been born in a happy family and everything was perfect. Apart from one thing. Naruto, her older brother. Ever since she could remember, she had always wanted to know _why _he acted the way he did. Why did he rejected happiness? Why did he rejected his family? Why did he even rejected the world? He always was a black sheep among white sheep. Why?

"Penny for your thoughts?" A feminine voice said. Turning around she saw her mother.

"Mom!" Natsumi said with a big smile and rushed to hug her.

"You really have grown." Kushina softly said as she looked at her daughter. "Now, why don't you tell me why you were practicing your kenjutsu all alone at this hour?"

"Oh, that." Natsumi replied with embarrassment and proceed to tell her the whole story about her last mission.

"I see..." Kushina said biting her lower lip in worry as Natsumi finished her story.

"Do you... remember Kaede?" Natsumi lowly said.

"Yes... but you should go back to sleep. It is not a happy story." Kushina replied with a frown. Natsumi wanted to press more but she decided against it seeing the state of her mother. "I also just came back from a long term mission, I need some sleep. Good night!"

She kissed her forehead then she turned around and walked inside the house, leaving a pensive looking Natsumi wondering what just happened.

'_Naruto... it certainly has been a while since I have thought about you._' Kushina thought as a lone tear escaped her right eye. '_I hope you are doing well up there..._'

* * *

In a dark cavern, eight figures in astral projection were meeting to discuss a certain recent event.

"Deidara and Sasori are dead?" The leader of the Akatsuki, Pain, said with a light frown.

"Yes, **the Konoha shinobis got them.** Deidara blew himself up and Sasori got killed by Natsuki Namikaze, the daughter of the Fourth Hokage along with Chiyo one of the Elder of Suna. **His corpse was returned to Suna, do you want us to retrieve it?**"

"Don't bother with it, we will not send anyone inside a major village to simply retrieve a corpse. The few information on our organisation contained inside Sasori's heart is not worth the risks." Pain sternly replied.

"Even when those two crippled Suna?" Kisame said chuckling as he gestured to Yurei and Kaede. "Suna is nothing more than a minor village now with almost all of their ANBUs dead."

"Suna was already considered a borderline major village to begin with. It is not their numbers who made them strong, it's the quality of them." Itachi said.

"Itachi is right, they may be few but they have the quality." Pain said.

"They do have quite a few good bounties." Kakuzu said.

"So, what are we doing now? We need to recruit two more members." Hidan said annoyed at this pointless meeting, at least in his opinion.

"Actually we only need to recruit one." Zetsu said.

"Who is it that you are speaking about?" Pain asked.

"His name **is Tobo**."

* * *

**So, how did you find it? Story won't go on eternally, I plan to follow the manga and finish the story at 100k-150k words.**

**Please Follow, Favorites and Reviews! Two guys reviewed today and thank you to you two, you really made me ****realize that I should update this story lol. Now I gotta go watch the Superbowl, start in a few mins! :O**

**Because you had to wait for such a long time let me give you a hint:**

**Next Chapter: Father and Son**

**P-S Trust me, I know what I am doing, I won't do this for fun, well yeah but that is part of it lol, there is a long term meaning as well. ;)**


	9. Father And Son

**Heya everyone! Hope you like this chapter, this has been one that I have been wanting to write for a very long time!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

''What do you mean dad left the village?'' Menma asked in surprise.

''Tsunade will be in charge during his absence. Minato left to investigate something. It won't be long until he is back.'' Kushina told Menma and Natsumi with a forced smile. Menma didn't see it but Natsumi did. She wanted to ask but now wasn't the moment. She would ask her later. ''Go to our training ground, I need to take some things and then I will join you.''

''Understood.'' Menma and Natsumi answered before they both started walking toward the training ground inside their compound.

She must have read the letter at least ten times already. She knew it was a simple investigation. But still, she had a bad feeling about this.

_Dear Kushina,_

_I will be away for a few days to investigate something. I informed no one of my departure because I know I would meet a lot of resistance. And I understand them, me being the Hokage I must stay in the village but I was recently informed of a pair of Akatsuki members traveling through a village near Tanzaku town. _

_One of them fit the description of Kaede and as such, I need to speak to her. I won't lie, I blame myself a lot for the death of Naruto and if there is anything I can do to help one of his friends then I will. Tsunade can be Hokage in my absence, I left her a note concerning this._

_I know you aren't happy that I left but I must do this. Akatsuki is going to come for Natsumi and Menma one day or another so if I can take care of a few of them, then I will. It is my duty as a parent. _

_Take care of Natsumi and Menma until I come back._

_Minato._

'_I hope you won't come back in a coffin. I really have a bad feeling about this..._' Kushina thought melancholically before she put the note inside her pocket and walked in direction of the training ground.

* * *

"I must be quite a celebrity if the Fourth Hokage in person wants to see me." Kaede said as her father-in-law appeared in front of her with a frown on his face.

"Are you Kaede?" Minato immediately asked as he looked at her. From the information he was given, she was the one. Short pink hair, red eyes and the Akatsuki cloak. '_And where is her partner? I can't detect anyone other than me and her as far as I can. Also why can't I feel her chakra? If she really is in the Akatsuki then it means that she is very powerful so why does she have no chakra signature?_'

Nevertheless, he would not let his guard down.

"And why do you want to know" Kaede crudely asked.

"Because I want to know whether the stories about you, a childhood friend of Naruto, my deceased elder son, joining the Akatsuki are true and why. What happened to you? Why did you join the Akatsuki?" Minato passively said, not bothered by her attitude.

"Oh?" Kaede murmured with derision in her voice. "So you came all the way here to know how I was doing after all these years? How sad..."

"How sad?" Minato said a bit confused.

"Yes, how sad that you seek redemption in the past where nothing awaits you." Kaede said with mockery in her voice which was starting to slightly annoy him. "I do remember a little boy named Naruto. He was my first friend. He taught me so much about how the world works and that alone saved me so many problems. I am thankful to him for what he taught me. Do you want to know something that your son once told me that changed my perception of life?"

Taking the silence as a cue, she continued.

"Peace can only be brought by force. Peace bring contentment. Peace bring people to stop looking, to stop searching for solutions. They start to take everything for granted. They allow themselves to sink deeper and deeper in the problem that is the shinobi system without even realizing it until it is too late. The shinobi system must be destroyed for peace to come. For that to happen however, one must stop being a white sheep and he must become a black sheep. He must do what is necessary despite what others say. Become strong because that is how the system works and for you to destroy it, you must be stronger than it. Only then can peace have a chance of coming." Kaede said.

"That is quite a dark way of seeing life." Minato said with a frown.

"Your son's words, not mine." Kaede replied. "I completely agree with them though, they have proven to be true many many times."

"Peace can be possible through love. If we understand each other's pain then it is possible. The problem is that everyone think that their pain is unique and therefore refuse to see reason." Minato said.

"And how do you plan to achieve peace through love?" Kaede curiously asked.

"I don't know." Minato sadly said which initially surprised her but quickly switched to disdain.

"Don't be surprised if everything doesn't go the way you want it to go if you are not willing to fight for what you want." Kaede said with contempt in her voice.

"You misunderstood me." Minato said with a genuine smile. "I know peace is possible through love. I do not know how but I am sure that if I cannot find the solution, then someone else will. The world is riddled by wars, that is true. But I still want to believe that one day it will come. Hope is what keep us going. Without hope or dreams, there is no meaning to life."

"I have difficulties understanding how people like you can believe such delusions." Kaede dryly said.

"They are not delusions, as long as we believe in it, it is possible." Minato countered.

"It seems you won't listen no matter what I say." Kaede said.

"And I would say the same thing to you."

No one spoke for a few seconds. They stared at each other. Each trying to understand the other. Kaede quickly grew tired of it however and when she did, her voice was firm and full of malice.

"Leave."

"Sadly I can't."

"Why?"

"Both of my children are jinchurikis and you are part of the Akatsuki. It is the duty of a parent to protect its children from incoming harm."

"That is admirable. But do you think you can defeat me?"

"I do not know but there is only one way to find out."

Taking four of his unique kunais, he swiftly threw them at her. She avoided them without so much trouble and even smiled at him in amusement. He teleported to one of them as they got behind her and quickly formed a rasengan in his right hand and shove it into her back. Or so he thought when he saw it straining against an invisible barrier a few millimeters from her skin.

'_What?_' Minato thought in surprise before he had to duck under her right arm as she tried to punch him. Using the momentum, she brought her left leg to kick him at his head. Deciding to block it with both of his hands, he was surprised by the strength of it. '_She is strong, near Gai's strength!_'

'_Not bad._' Kaede thought as she looked down at him. Few people could block her kicks and punches when she was at full power. She wasn't even near it but it was a feat in itself already for him to block it.

Ducking under her left leg as it passed on top of his head, he tried to punch her with his right arm but she blocked it with her left hand. He tried to kick her with his left leg but she also blocked it with her right hand. Seeing that he was getting nowhere, he teleported a bit away from her to one of his marks that he had placed on top of a branch.

'_She is good in taijutsu, probably at Kakashi's level. Her strength is also very good. Not to mention that invisible barrier when I tried to hit her with my rasengan. In the small amount of time that we clashed physically, the barrier wasn't there as I felt her skin. Which means that she can acti-!'_

He jumped out of the tree as it blew up. As he was in the air, Kaede appeared in front of him and tried to punch him in the stomach but before she could, he teleported again to one of his markers on the ground. Once she landed on the ground, she didn't waste a second and immediately rushed at him, engaging him once again.

'_He is good._' Kaede thought as she spared against him. It had been a long time since she had a good fight. He sometimes hit her but her vectors protected her. She could let him pass through her but she didn't want to reveal that ability yet. '_He certainly is living up to his name as the fastest man alive._'

Then both of them jumped away from each other knowing that using taijutsu was getting nowhere.

"You are strong." Kaede admitted before she frowned. "But you are not taking this seriously. Why?"

"The same reason you aren't taking this seriously." Minato replied but became annoyed when she giggled in amusement.

"Don't think for a second that we have the same reason for not getting serious." Kaede said condescendingly. "Why I am not taking this seriously is that I could have killed you anytime I wanted to. I chose not to do it because I want to know how strong you are. Amuse me, show me your senjutsu. You _might_ have a chance to defeat me with it."

As she was speaking, Minato grew more and more concerned. He had a feeling from the beginning that something wasn't right. It was too easy. She gave him too many openings. Did she really think that she could defeat him so easily that she wasn't going to even get serious with him? If anything, he was a cautious man before anything else. He did learn senjutsu from the toads. His time in senjutsu mode was limited as he had to stay still to gather nature energy but he had found another way around this years ago. By using clones who collected it while he fight, he is able to dismiss them and instantly gain senjutsu mode. His number of clones are limited to six though. More than that and it would interfere with the clones gathering nature energy.

'_Guess I have no choice._' Minato thought as he became serious. Dismissing one of his clone gathering nature energy, he entered senjutsu mode and immediately jumped back outside the range of some... invisible arms? '_How did I not notice them?!_'

"So you have noticed them at last uh. Only a senjutsu user can feel them." Kaede said with amusement.

Minato quickly formed a rasengan in his right hand. Curious as to what he was doing, Kaede continued to watch as lightning started to form around it. Moments later, the rasengan took the shape of a shuriken with lightning dancing around it. Then he threw it at her.

As it neared her, the ground underneath it was getting charred by the countless small lightning strikes. The power coming from it was incredible. Just as she was going to jump away from it, she felt a presence appear just in front of her. She smiled as she recognized who it was.

"I'm surprised you didn't kill him yet." Naruto said with a chuckle.

At the moment he was very happy to have learned that powerful henge years ago. It saved him the trouble of anyone of his 'family' recognizing him. Minato's eyes widened as he saw someone standing in the path of his lightning rasenshuriken. Just as it was about to hit him, the man extended a hand and the rasenshuriken collided with it. No explosion. Minato's eyes widened even more as he saw one of his most powerful jutsu being absorbed. In all of his years he had never heard of anything similar to this.

'_Did he... absorbed my jutsu?!_' Minato thought in shock. '_And his chakra reserves... they are gigantic!_'

"Minato Namikaze uh?" Naruto murmured as he looked at his father.

It had been many years since he had seen him. He occasionally heard of him, Konoha more particularly, and what they had been up to from his spies. He sometimes imagined how he would feel about meeting his family again after all this time. But now he had an answer. He felt nothing. He didn't hate them like he used to, he just felt... nothing for them. As long as they didn't interfere with his plans, he wouldn't have to deal with them. With them thinking he was dead, it was infinitely easier for him. If they were to know that he was alive, they would try to bring him back and with his father being one of the kage, he would certainly not want that to happen.

"Stay away and don't interfere unless absolutely necessary. I want to fight him." Naruto murmured to Kaede low enough that Minato didn't hear him.

"Understood." Kaede replied with a light smile and disappeared to hide in the forest. Minato frowned as Kaede left the area.

"Minato Namikaze, Fourth Hokage, to what do we owe the visit of one of the most powerful shinobi? I thought it was risky for a kage to leave its village." Naruto casually said.

"It is." Minato replied. "But desperate times call for desperate measures. Many countries do not see you as a threat yet, but you will become one eventually. It is only a matter of time."

"That and you felt a sense of duty to try to redeem yourself because one of the only friends of your deceased elder son has been 'corrupted' by the evil of this world?" Naruto said with a tone of amusement in his voice which worried Minato.

'_If he knows that then it meant he listened to our conversation earlier... but I never sensed him._' Minato thought with a deep frown.

'_You may be an S-class shinobi with a flee-on-sight and one of the few people who can fight more than one S-class shinobis at the same time but you still are the same after all these years. For many people you may be unreadable but I can read you like an open book. You are my father and I have lived many years under the same roof as you. And surprisingly, you haven't changed. This will be your downfall._' Naruto thought with amusement.

'_I guess there is no turning back now._' Minato thought then quickly unsealed eight of his special kunai for his teleportation technique, four in each hand. He threw them at him but before they could reach him, he made a hand seal and they all went away in the surrounding forest courtesy of a small but powerful wind jutsu. Seeing that his markers weren't going to work, he teleported using the Body Flicker technique behind Naruto with a rasengan infused with fire this time.

''Too sl-!'' Naruto said and jumped in the air as the earth beneath him blew up.

'_Shit, I was too careless! He caught me off guard with his explosive clone hiding underground. The fire rasengan was simply a distraction._' Naruto thought with a small frown as he saw Minato dashing toward him.

'_Earth Release: Collapsing Of The Earth!_' Naruto thought before clapping his hands together. The ground all around Minato up to a hundred meters started cracking and fracturing which prompted him to jump in the air less he avoid being crushed by the rocks underneath him.

'_Water Release: Boiling Geyser Formation!_' Naruto thought as pressurized hot water burst from below the ground in multiple spots around Minato. Not wanting to be crushed by the large rocks that were thrown in the air as a result of it, he teleported to a marker that he had left behind a tree. He knew it wouldn't be long until he was found but it gave him enough time to prepare for his next jutsu. Performing a clone seal with his hands, a shadow clone appeared beside him and nodded at him.

''Sage Art: Wind Release: Wind Dragon Bullets!'' Minato said and then got out of behind the tree to expel large bullets of wind from his mouth at his Naruto.

''Sage Art: Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullets!'' Minato's clone said at the same time as he exhaled large fire bullets that combined with the wind ones to create huge scorching bullets.

'_Impressive._' Naruto thought a small smile before he quickly made some hand seals. '_Ice Release: Crystals Of The Eternal Frozen Land!_'

Huge ice crystals rose from the ground to form a wall just in time to stop the scorching bullets of fire. The shock wave that followed the impact completely destroyed the area around them. Many trees, even at such a distance, were set on fire from the heat of Minato's attack. Having noticed that his wall was only going to stop the majority of the attack, Naruto had jumped away at the last second before it melt.

'_Guess I didn't put enough chakra in it._' Naruto thought with a frown. '_That and I didn't think his senjutsu would be so advanced, he doesn't have an imperfect mode like Jiraiya. He perfected it so it is much stronger than anticipated._'

'_Kakashi and his team really didn't joke when they said that those two were possibly at the same level of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha._' Minato thought somberly as his sage mode dissipated. This wasn't looking good. Not good at all. It was time to stop toying around.

Biting his thumb enough to draw blood, he swept it across a small seal on his left wrist. A puff of smoke appeared and revealed two old small frogs.

"Mina-chan! It had been such a long time!" One of the two, a purple like-hair female said with enthusiasm.

"I agree with Ma, it has been a long time since you visited us. Even less summoning us. What is the matter?" The other one, a small white haired male said with similar enthusiasm but it quickly changed to seriousness as both of them noticed a chakra signature across from Minato.

''Akatsuki...'' The female one said with a frown.

''So they have finally started to move eh?'' The male one asked.

''They haven't, Fukasaku-sama, Shima-sama.'' Minato said reassuring them. ''Yesterday, I was informed of a pair of Akatsuki members wandering near this village. By the description I was given, it was Kaede, a childhood friend of Naruto. I had to see...''

''I see...'' Fukasaku murmured to himself. He knew that Minato still blamed himself for the death of Naruto so him doing something like that wasn't the least surprising.

''And where is this Kaede?'' Shima asked looking around. ''Apart from that man, there is no one around.''

''Use your Senjutsu Ma, there is someone other than that man two miles to the west watching us.'' Fukasaku said.

"Are you done, it's getting boring here." Naruto impatiently said.

''That man is the partner of Kaede?'' Fukasaku asked to which Minato nodded.

''I will explain more to you later but first, I need you to collect Senjutsu for me. That is one of the only chances we have to defeat him. I do have five other clones but I would prefer to only use them unless necessary.'' Minato said.

''Understood! Sage Art: Amphibian Technique!'' Fukasaku and Shima said as they both jumped on Minato's shoulders and fuse with him.

''Sage Art: Kage Bunshin!'' Minato said as multiple clones appeared around him and charged at Naruto. ''This should buy us enough time to cover the basics. That man is extremely strong so we dont have much time until he dispel all of my clones.''

Two small toads. No doubts about them. They are the two elders of Mount Myoboku. Fukasaku and Shima. His father and Jiraiya had been trained in senjutsu by those very same toads.

Knowing that the clones were a distraction, he jumped in the air then created four black receivers and threw them at specific locations around them. Clapping his hands, he intoned his next jutsu. "**Four Red Yang Formation**."

A red barrier appeared surrounding them for many miles as well as being a mile tall. Making a clone, he sent it to the barrier. Once there, the clone put his hands on it before dispelling itself a few seconds later.

* * *

''A four red yang barrier.'' Fukasaku said out loud in surprise. ''No wonder you summoned us.''

''I agree.'' Shima said with a frown. ''You are in serious trouble if he can perform such a jutsu alone, Mina-chan.''

''I had my doubts about something but the more we fight, the more I am sure of it. Which is mostly why I have decided to summon you.'' Minato said gravely as they turned around and ran to gain as much time as they could.

''What do you mean you have doubts about something?'' Fukasaku curiously asked.

''Earth Release, Water Release, Ice Release, gigantic chakra reserves and the capacity to absorb chakra. That and the ability to perform a four red yang formation on his own spoke volumes of his chakra reserves. And from the memories I am getting of my shadow clones, he isn't even a bit tired. Each of his abilities have been displayed to be at least S-class.'' Minato said.

''So you finally met your match.'' Shima said with a heavy sigh.

''No.'' Minato replied with a small frown. ''That man is much more stronger than me. If we want to defeat him, we will need to be extremely fast and strong as everything I have tried up until now haven't worked.''

''Alright then, what do you have in mind?'' Fukasaku asked.

''Taijutsu doesn't work, same for Ninjutsu, which seem to be one of his strengths. That leave genjutsu.'' Minato said.

''You mean... _that_ genjutsu?'' Shima asked in surprise.

''Yes.'' Minato said. ''He currently is occupied by my clones so now would be the perfect moment.''

''I don't like to use this genjutsu but if there is something I know about you Mina-chan, it's that you never do something without a good reason.'' Shima said. ''Pa, you ready?''

''Yes, let's do it.'' Fukasaku said with conviction in his voice.

* * *

As he was fighting against Minato's shadow clones, Naruto was starting to feel a bit annoyed. These weren't simple shadow clones, they were enhanced by Senjutsu meaning that it took more than one hit to take care of them. That and he just discovered that they could also use hiraishin. It made them even more of a pain to deal with. At least, out of the twenty first, only four remained now.

'_And now three._' Naruto thought as he managed to catch one of them and quickly delivered a punch to his chest, dissipating him. As he continued fighting, he started hearing a faint sound coming from the forest which progressively and quickly grew in intensity. '_Toad genjutsu? I better be on my...! I can't move!'_

His vision blurred for a second before he found himself in a suspended cube of water. Surrounding him were four toad samourai. And just below him was Minato with the two toads on his shoulders looking at him.

'_What a strong genjutsu, I almost cannot do anything._' Naruto thought with respect to the two toads. ''I never thought that the toads of Mount Myoboku had such a strong genjutsu in their arsenal.''

''It is over.'' Minato said to which Naruto raised an eyebrow in question before his eyes widened.

''I see...'' Naruto murmured as he came back to the real world to see a massive stone sword inside his chest. ''What?''

The real Minato approached him and then he took the handle of the sword before swiftly removing it.

''You are strong, extremely strong.'' Minato neutrally said to him. ''I expected much more of you but your arrogance has caused your downfall. You underestimated me.''

Naruto fell to his knees while looking at the hole inside his chest.

''Guess this is my end...'' Naruto said with a small laugh before he fell face first against the ground.

''I don't get it...'' Minato said after a minute of silence while staring at the corpse. ''Taijutsu, ninjutsu, he easily rivaled me in both of them. He was an extremely strong shinobi and yet, I have a bad feeling.''

''It is over Mina-chan.'' Shima said. ''There is nothing more dead than this.''

''I have to agree with Minato, Ma.'' Fukasaku said with a frown. It had been _way _too easy. But still... the man was dead.

''I guess this is it then.'' Minato said with a heavy sigh. ''There is still one member to deal with.''

''Kaede?'' Shima asked.

''Yes.'' Minato answered and started walking toward her location.

''Shouldn't you deal with me before going after my partner?''

''!''

A huge explosion went off that shook the area all around them to which Minato didn't escaped unharmed. His left arm and a part of his back were burned heavily.

''Minato! Are you okay?'' Fukasaku asked when he noticed the burnt areas.

''How is he not dead!?'' Shima said in surprise.

''Yeah... I will be fine.'' Minato said with a bit of difficulty. Still, he had endured worse so he would be fine. Focusing his gaze to his opponent, he was surprised but at the same time he wasn't. He had lowered his guard and he had paid for it.

''And you call yourself a kage shinobi?'' Naruto said mocked him with a sneer before he became serious. ''I played enough with you. It is time to end this.''

Minato didn't get a second of rest as Naruto appeared in front of him and punched him with such speed that he had no time to respond. As he was flying through the air, Naruto quickly appeared behind him and was about to kick him before Minato teleported away from him. Immediately knowing where he was, he made some hand seals.

'_Fire Release: Fire Dragon!_' Naruto thought before he expelled from his mouth a huge dragon made of fire.

''He already found us?!'' Fukasaku said in surprise. They had used a small barrier to hide them but it seems it wasn't enough. Minato teleported again to another spot but to his dismay, the fire dragon kept chasing them.

''Any of you got something to stop it?'' Minato said with a frown as the fire dragon continued to approach them.

''Taking care of it!'' Fukasaku said before he expelled a high pressure stream from his mouth that cut the dragon in two and dissipate it.

''Don't forget me!'' Naruto said with a wide smile appearing behind him with a wind rasenshuriken in his right hand.

'_That technique!_' Minato thought in utter shock before he jumped away and Naruto threw it at him. '_Hiraishin: Guiding Thunder!_'

The space in front of Minato distorted and when it came in contact with the wind rasenshuriken, it was absorbed in it. A mile or so away from them, a white dome of energy suddenly appeared, creating a big crater in the process.

''How do you know this technique!?'' Minato questioned Naruto.

''If only you knew who I am, you would know!'' Naruto answered with a small laugh.

'_I know him?_' Minato pensively thought before his eyes widened as Naruto appeared in front of him. Even with his Sage Mode, he could barely keep up with his speed. He quickly teleported to one of his markers in the forest.

'_He really is starting to annoy me with his markers._' Naruto thought with a frown before he smiled. He had the perfect jutsu to deal with this but it might show a bit more than necessary of his powers. No matter, he shouldn't underestimate his father. He is one of the most powerful shinobis alive for a reason after all. He clapped his hands together as his eyes changed to that of the Rinnegan.

'_Chibaku Tensei!_'

* * *

''This isn't looking good.'' Minato said with ragged breath. ''If this continue like this, I might have to retreat.''

''As much as I don't like to admit it, your chakra reserves are beginning to get really low so this would be a good idea.'' Shima said with a frown.

''But you don't want to retreat, right?'' Fukasaku asked to which Minato nodded.

''I agree, there are far too many unknowns and from what we have gathered so far, this is merely the tip of the iceberg. I am outclassed on many levels.'' Minato said with as much calm as he could. ''I always knew that there are people stronger than me out there, but not by this much.''

''Apart from his gigantic chakra levels and his ability to launch several S-class jutsus I don't see how he is better than you. He is good in taijutsu but we caught him off guard several times.'' Shima inquired.

''Yes, we did.'' Minato replied with a small sigh. ''But so far, he could have used many of his abilities yet he didn't. He could have absorbed my scorching fire bullets but he didn't. He could have destroyed my hiraishin markers many time already, but he didn't. When we started fighting, I launch eight of my markers at him but he deflected them and sent them in the forest with a wind ninjutsu. He knew what they were capable of yet he didn't destroyed them, merely deflecting them. When you cast that genjutsu of yours and he was suspended in that cube of water, he was _too _calm, like he wasn't worried. As for taijutsu, he is nearly as fast as me and if his recent increase in speed is anything, he can be as fast as I can.''

''I understand what you mean now...'' Shima grumbled.

''What is this?'' Minato said looking in the air as a black spherical object flew through it before it eventually stopped. Everything was quiet for a moment before the ground started to crack and trees began to get uprooted.

''Everything is getting attracted to it!'' Fukasaku said in consternation as they saw large chunks of rocks and trees being drawn to the black spherical object.

''We need to get out of here!'' Minato said before he use the body flicker jutsu multiple times to move away from the area.

''What is the point of doing this?!'' Shima asked as she and her husband looked at the spherical black object that was starting to look more and more like a miniature version of the moon.

''Destroying all of my markers in the forest.'' Minato said with a frown. ''Unfortunately for him, I have one on him.''

''And now would be a good time. Such a technique must require a preparation and the cost for it must be big.'' Fukasaku said.

''Indeed, that is why I want to try something that I have been working on for a long time. I have never used it against someone but in this case, if there is anything that might work, it will be this or nothing else.'' Minato said before marking the tree he was leaning against. If he wanted to come out alive from what he was going to do, then he needed to have an escape route. Otherwise, he wouldn't come out alive of it. And his hiraishin markers were the perfect solution.

* * *

It was nearly complete. Sweat was pouring on his face. Using such a jutsu without Kaguya's power or his chakra fully released from the multiple seals really tired him more than he had expected. If this continued like this, he would have to reveal more than he liked to show. It had been quite a surprise to meet his father after all those years. But still, for interfering like this, he had to die. He had planned a long time ago to kill him in the future along a few others for the plan to go forward without any unwanted change. Fortunately, his father had made the task much more easier by coming directly to him.

Sensing the chakra of Minato suddenly appearing behind him, he quickly canceled the jutsu and dodged to the ground as multiple shurikens passed by him, cutting a few strands of hair in process. His eyes widened as he saw they were marked by hiraishin markers. Minato appeared in front of him with a fire-wind-lightning infused rasengan in his hands. He knew one thing about it and that is that that thing was incredibly deadly and he was _not_ going to get hit by that!

'_The one behind me was a clone all along!_' Naruto thought in surprise. He clapped his hands together for another jutsu but before he could, the clone behind him had already finished another jutsu.

''Hiraishin: Guiding Thunder!'' Minato's clone said and the space in front of Naruto distorted until a void was all he could see.

Seeing the clone blocking the attack of Minato surprised him for a moment before he remembered the purpose of the jutsu. It had not blocked his wind rasenshuriken earlier, it had transported it to another location. That and seeing Minato still continuing his attack only confirmed his suspicion. He was going to attack him from another angle. Then the clone punched him with his left arm, which he blocked with his hands. His eyes widened again when the clone slapped a white paper with a complex seal on it on his left wrist. The gravity suddenly increased and that was all that Minato needed to briefly restrict his movements. Naruto could only lift his head to see a glowing orb collide with his face. The millisecond it hit his opponent, Minato teleported away to safety.

A gigantic explosion of lightning, fire and wind blew up which was visible for many many miles. The lightning created many deep trenches in the ground and the fire charred the ground up to a mile all around. The wind caused by the explosion had also uprooted all of the remaining trees inside the barrier. It took a minute for the explosion to stop and when it did, the landscape was utterly destroyed.

''By the Shinigami...'' Minato murmured in shock.

''I-I can't believe it!'' Fukasaku also said in shock.

''I have never imagined that it would cause such destruction...'' Shima said in astonishment.

''Damn it...'' Minato said as he fell to his knees and started to vomit blood.

''You have used too much chakra!'' Fukasaku said and he became much more worried when the Sage Mode disappeared.

''His Sage Mode disappeared!'' Shima said in fright. If the Sage Mode of a senjutsu user ever disappear naturally, it really isn't a good usually means that the body is too much tired to handle more of it.

''I will be ok, just need to resplenish my chakra.'' Minato said through difficulty.

''We need to reverse summon you immediately!'' Fukasaku told him to which Shima nodded rapidly.

''Reverse Summoning Technique!'' They said at the same time and they were surrounded by smoke. When it cleared, they discovered that they hadn't moved.

''What?'' Shima said in surprise. ''Why aren't we at home?!''

''I don't know.'' Fukasaku frowned. ''The technique worked though...''

''You really are something... Minato Namikaze. You nearly got me.'' A voice said and the three of them looked in horror as Naruto climbed out of the mile deep and long crater made by the explosion. The worst part though is that he had no injuries. None.

''How?'' Minato murmured though Naruto heard him.

''You do remember the man you fought when the twins were born?'' Naruto said and Minato lightly nodded while he was inwardly worried as to how that piece of information had leaked. Very few knew that so how did he know it? ''I killed him and I took his sharingan. Well, more like a mangekyo sharingan as it has the ability to become intangible.''

''So that's how you survived.'' Minato said with a frown.

''Indeed but do you want to know who that masked man was?'' Naruto asked with a wide grin to which Minato knew he wasn't going to like the answer.

''Obito Uchiha, one of your students.''

''That's impossible.'' Minato immediately responded. ''He died being crushed by rocks.''

''False, at the last second, his sharingan suddenly evolved to a mangekyo sharingan and it allowed him to become intangible. Beneath all that rubble, there was a tunnel. A man later passed through it and tended to his injuries.'' Naruto said.

''If what you say is true, then why didn't he came back?'' Minato replied.

''He tried to come back but when he did, he saw Kakashi killing the one he loved, Rin Nohara. After that, he changed drastically and like they say, the rest is history.'' Naruto said with a small laugh. ''Also, the reason you cannot get out of here is that I put some seals on the barrier to specifically stop anyone from escaping.''

'_So that's why we weren't able to reverse summon. Any attempt to escape will fail because of these seals then._ _We can't win nor can we flee... No, I still have something left._' Minato thought in sadness. '_Please forgive me everyone for what I am about to do._'

''Elders.'' Minato said as he closed his eyes, determined to do what he was going to do. It saddened him greatly, but it was the only way for them to win. Not only that, but he couldn't allow someone like him to live. He is far too dangerous. Even himself could barely do anything against him and he is considered as one of the strongest shinobi alive. He had to kill him. It is only a matter of time before he comes to Konoha and with such power, no one might be able to stop him. ''Flee as far as you can. Find a way outside of this barrier. Konoha needs to know what happened here.''

''What are you saying Mina-chan!'' Shima said in surprise at what he said.

''As much as I don't like it, this is might be our only chance to warn Konoha!'' Fukasaku said with an intensity that surprised his wife. He looked at Minato who looked back at him and they nodded. They knew this was a goodbye.

''Alright then...'' Shima said with difficulty. She looked at Minato and nodded at him. She and her husband then jumped away from his shoulders to go as far as they could. If the barrier was going to go down, they would be prepared.

''I'm surprised you let them go.'' Minato said with a frown.

''They won't go far. Once I am done with you, they will be next.'' Naruto confidently said.

''I wouldn't be so sure of that!'' Minato said with conviction. His next hand seals made Naruto's eyes widen in surprise. He knew those hand seals. ''Dead Demon Consuming Soul!''

Minato immediately teleported himself to the marker that he had placed on Naruto earlier and he quickly placed a gravity seal on him. The moment after, the Shinigami appeared behind him.

'_Damn it!_' Naruto thought in alarm. Minato only needed him to be immobilised for the Shinigami to take his soul. He quickly used Kamui to avoid being touched by the Shinigami. Sadly for him, even with the Kamui activated, the Shinigami was able to touch him and when he touched him, he was able to see Him. '_Kamui doesn't work! Damn it, damn it, damn it!_'

''I got you...'' Minato said through labored breaths with a smile. The red barrier also disappeared the moment the arm of the Shinigami touched Naruto. It gave him happiness to know that at least Konoha will know what happened. Seems like he succeeded. He could go on in peace knowing he brought him with him.

Minato's face turned to shock when he saw Naruto jump away from the arm of the Shinigami.

'_That was a close call!_' Naruto thought as sweat was pouring on his face. He had come too close to death. Way too close. Thanks to one of his shadow, he had been able to switch with it at the last second. The limbo: border jail jutsu really is one of his most useful jutsus. By using that jutsu, he can project shadows of himself into the invisible world of limbo and use them for different purposes. Kamui may not have worked but limbo: border jail did. He will have to investigate why later though.

Seeing that he did not get him, Minato smiled. Even if he couldn't kill him, someone else will. Probably his children, it is their job to surpass their parents after all. He have confidence in them.

''One last thing before you go.'' Naruto said to him with a sinister smile that sent chills through his body. ''I want nothing to do with any of you, get out of my room.''

''What is that supposed to-!''

These words. He knew these words. He had heard them so many times before.

''...Naruto?'' Minato said with wide eyes. He didn't want to believe it. He had buried his body. ''No, it can't be you! He is dead! I buried him!''

''You did bury me, I really was dead at the time. I simply used a special jutsu to come back to life. Faking my death was the only way to get out of Konoha's control to do my own plans without anyone interfering.'' Naruto said with a sigh before he closed his eyes and became serious. ''I do not love you. I hate you because you are a hypocrite. You preach that you want peace yet you do nothing for it. You amplify the problem even. I just don't care about you or anyone in our 'family'. I have my own plans to accomplish and if I need to kill you for it then I will do so without any hesitation.''

''I see...'' Minato murmured with a sad smile before he closed his eyes, never to open them again.

It was over.

''I was nearly forced to intervene with that last jutsu.'' A voice said from behind him. ''How do you feel? You just killed your 'father'.''

''Kaede.'' Naruto said acknowledging her. ''Aye, I did kill my 'father' but I don't see him as one. He had his chance when I was a child and he failed horribly.''

''But why did you tell him who you were?'' Kaede curiously asked him.

''I guess I did because he impressed me. He was much more stronger than I had expected. I felt I had to return the favor.'' Naruto said as he stared at the body of Minato. He looked so peaceful... Strange.

* * *

**Alright, what do you think? Also got some questions for you.**

**1\. Upper case, lower case(kage, Kage?). Japanese name, normal name(jutsu or technique?). I really don't get which one I should use.**

**2\. Still have difficulty with the emotions, anyone knows a place where there is a writer hub where people discuss how to give them? He smiled, he frown, he said sadly, etc. Same thing for how time evolve. How to make time seem longer by writing more about description than dialogue. Ex: The huge explosion lasted for a minute. Have to describe it enough to make it seem like it lasted a minute, not just say: The explosion lasted a minute, then they walked away. Got any ideas? Thanks!**

**3\. Gonna write another story soon. Will be a Naruto x Fairy Tail with the pairing being... NarutoxEileen! Naruto will be an ancient Spriggan 12 who left them to look for his daughter, Erza, whom he lost during the Rosemary village incident. Not wanting to go back to Alvarez to face Eileen until he has found Erza, he join Fairy Tail in the meantime. Many spriggans think that after 17 years of missing, he is dead. However, Naruto Yesta is not dead.**

**Alright that's all, don't know when I will update next, got lot of work + new story. ****Fighting scenes are not my best so I hope I did good enough. ****Anyways, I hope that you liked the confrontation between Naruto and Minato! I had lot of fun writing that part!**

**Thank you for Reviewing!**

**:)**


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